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Rise of the Usurper & The Army of Glock
I was on the field of battle at the time of Antoine’s death. I watched him fall. I held his head in my lap as the life seeped away from him and was at “ground zero” when it came to dealing with the immediate aftermath of it all.
But as I have told you, I am not a military man, but an advisor….and so, it came as quite the shock when I, as the highest ranking member of Lorraine’s Court, found myself suddenly at the head of an army whose size and strength boggled my mind.
I hadn’t a clue where to begin, but I knew who would, and so my first duty as Supreme Commander of the Armies of Lorraine was to delegate my authority to Antoine’s friend, Glockengeiser (“Glock” for short). I summoned him with all speed to Cologne, and set about organizing us as best I could.
And what a magnificent army we had! From just over sixteen thousand, our ranks had swelled in Cologne to an impressive 66,800/5583/36….so many men, in fact, that Cologne could not support them all!
In order to alleviate the problem, I remained in Cologne with thirty thousand of our soldiers and the siege guns, and ordered the remainder of the forces to Pfalz, through which Glock would have to pass in order to get to me, and who would, no doubt, know just what to do with the army when he saw it.
So I waited, and time was very much on our side as the Spaniards and their Hessen lapdogs had yet to be able to extricate themselves from the mire and muck of the low countries. Meanwhile, some fifty thousand Frenchmen had laid in a siege of Artois, and I saw the wisdom in that, so I sent riders to gather information about the fortification levels of Hainaut and Lux.
Of the two, it seemed that Hainaut had the more imposing walls, and since the host I had with me had the siege guns, I intuited that it would serve Lorraine’s interests best if I marched my army there to put the province under the gun.
So, I sent riders to Lux to update the force there (and Glock, upon his arrival) of my change in location, and duly made for Hainaut.
The rest of it…sorta took care of itself, I’m happy to say. The men in the army were very professional. They knew their jobs and needed only to be directed to where to do them. Once I pointed the way to Hainaut, the rest of the show ran on its own.
We arrived in good time and in good order (marching up to three exhausting leagues a day, I might add!), and the siege crews set about their business without waiting for any word from me, for which I was grateful, as I frankly would not have told them what to do! Nevertheless, before long, we had a right fine siege of Hainaut in the works, and as yet, no enemy armies moved to challenge us (though at the recommendation of one of my Lieutenants, I posted riders and pickets at various watch points to keep a lookout for them….smart man, that Lieutenant Habermaas. I shall promote him when this dirty business is finished.
As preparations got fully under way for my siege in Hainaut, a rider approached bearing our flag, with a message from General Glock (I gave him a field promotion, as was my due, and why not…he surely knew a thing or two more about leading armies than I did!). His report was that he had discovered the army I had sent him in Pfalz, and made straight for Lux, and presently had it under siege, and should be concluding it shortly. At that point, he would leapfrog over my force, and lay into Flandres, and once in hand, he recommended that we sue for peace with Spain get them out of the picture, and then turn the combined might of our armies on the Hessens to teach them a lesson.
That sounded good to me, and that is precisely what we did, though I must say I was astounded by the sheer speed with which Glock concluded his first siege…I thought I was doing well to have done steady damage to the walls of Hainaut, but before I could breech them, true to his word, Glock had captured Lux and sped past me, bound for Flandres.
As yet, no enemy forces approaching us, though an army of some forty thousand Frenchmen marched past our position with a report that they were bound for Hessen to bloody the upstart’s nose.
We cheered at the thought, and wished them the best of luck!
OoO
Although Glock never did encounter any enemy soldiers, he did have a devil of a time capturing mighty Flandres….twice during the siege, he was beset upon by well trained (though thankfully, ill-equipped) rebel forces, who were intent on driving him away.
He fought these attacks off, but they did steady damage to his force, to the point that he called upon me for assistance, as soon as my present siege was concluded (he also pointed out that one very good way to bring the siege to closure rapidly was to wait until the castle walls were breeched, then charge them…a thing the men would be reluctant to recommend on their own, he told me, but one which would get the job done quickly).
I tried it, and it worked just as he said it would, and we were able to wrap up our siege of Hainaut by April of 1544, and make toward Flandres shortly thereafter.
By mid June, we still had seen no sign of enemy forces (making this perhaps the easiest war that had ever been fought…thanks to Antoine’s capture of an army for us to use), and with Flandres in hand, we approached the Spaniards to talk peace, which they gladly accepted, in exchange for Lux and Hainaut.
Once more, the seeds that Antoine had planted during the course of his remarkable reign bore fruit.
By now, the Frenchmen had captured the province of Hessen from our German rivals, extorted lavish sums of money from them, and made off to fight elsewhere. Unfortunately, the 32,000 man Hessen army had barely been scratched, and had finally freed itself from the low countries and was bound for Kleves.
Knowing how thin the walls of the Keep of Kleves were, and given the rage of the Hessen army, we did not hold out much hope that the Dutchy would stand long against their might, so we consolidated our own forces in Cologne (attrition losses being such that we could now group the armies together without unduly straining the province….I did not know if that was a good thing or not!). All told, we still had some fifty thousand men in our force, five thousand horse, and twenty four guns….more numerous in all categories than our Hessen enemies.
I turn my force over to Glock’s control, and he merges the forces together, and prepares to move against the Hessens in Kleves. Freed of my military duties at last, I ride for Lorraine, wondering the whole way there how I will ever tell young Charles about the fate that befell his father. Little did I know that I had been beaten to the punch in a *most* insidious way, but more about that in a moment.
For Glock’s part, while he was on his way to Kleves, that province rises up in revolt! It’s only 14,000 men, and certainly no match for the angry Hessens, but it nicks them….wounds them….and it’s a victory of sorts, in my mind, and on October 2nd, 1544, the Army of Glock smashes the Hessen force, decimating them and driving them back across the Rhine. He pursues, smashing them again in Hessen itself in early November, and by year’s end, he has both Hessen provinces under the gun.
The Hessens sue for white peace on Christmas day, 1544, and we grant them their wish, grateful to be out of this war which saw such gains for our nation, but also such dreadful loss. But now I must backtrack, for there is more to this story, and while Glock was impressing upon the Hesse that Lorraine was not to be trifled with, I was fighting a different sort of battle in Lorraine….one that would determine the future of our Kingdom….
-=Vel=-
I was on the field of battle at the time of Antoine’s death. I watched him fall. I held his head in my lap as the life seeped away from him and was at “ground zero” when it came to dealing with the immediate aftermath of it all.
But as I have told you, I am not a military man, but an advisor….and so, it came as quite the shock when I, as the highest ranking member of Lorraine’s Court, found myself suddenly at the head of an army whose size and strength boggled my mind.
I hadn’t a clue where to begin, but I knew who would, and so my first duty as Supreme Commander of the Armies of Lorraine was to delegate my authority to Antoine’s friend, Glockengeiser (“Glock” for short). I summoned him with all speed to Cologne, and set about organizing us as best I could.
And what a magnificent army we had! From just over sixteen thousand, our ranks had swelled in Cologne to an impressive 66,800/5583/36….so many men, in fact, that Cologne could not support them all!
In order to alleviate the problem, I remained in Cologne with thirty thousand of our soldiers and the siege guns, and ordered the remainder of the forces to Pfalz, through which Glock would have to pass in order to get to me, and who would, no doubt, know just what to do with the army when he saw it.
So I waited, and time was very much on our side as the Spaniards and their Hessen lapdogs had yet to be able to extricate themselves from the mire and muck of the low countries. Meanwhile, some fifty thousand Frenchmen had laid in a siege of Artois, and I saw the wisdom in that, so I sent riders to gather information about the fortification levels of Hainaut and Lux.
Of the two, it seemed that Hainaut had the more imposing walls, and since the host I had with me had the siege guns, I intuited that it would serve Lorraine’s interests best if I marched my army there to put the province under the gun.
So, I sent riders to Lux to update the force there (and Glock, upon his arrival) of my change in location, and duly made for Hainaut.
The rest of it…sorta took care of itself, I’m happy to say. The men in the army were very professional. They knew their jobs and needed only to be directed to where to do them. Once I pointed the way to Hainaut, the rest of the show ran on its own.
We arrived in good time and in good order (marching up to three exhausting leagues a day, I might add!), and the siege crews set about their business without waiting for any word from me, for which I was grateful, as I frankly would not have told them what to do! Nevertheless, before long, we had a right fine siege of Hainaut in the works, and as yet, no enemy armies moved to challenge us (though at the recommendation of one of my Lieutenants, I posted riders and pickets at various watch points to keep a lookout for them….smart man, that Lieutenant Habermaas. I shall promote him when this dirty business is finished.
As preparations got fully under way for my siege in Hainaut, a rider approached bearing our flag, with a message from General Glock (I gave him a field promotion, as was my due, and why not…he surely knew a thing or two more about leading armies than I did!). His report was that he had discovered the army I had sent him in Pfalz, and made straight for Lux, and presently had it under siege, and should be concluding it shortly. At that point, he would leapfrog over my force, and lay into Flandres, and once in hand, he recommended that we sue for peace with Spain get them out of the picture, and then turn the combined might of our armies on the Hessens to teach them a lesson.
That sounded good to me, and that is precisely what we did, though I must say I was astounded by the sheer speed with which Glock concluded his first siege…I thought I was doing well to have done steady damage to the walls of Hainaut, but before I could breech them, true to his word, Glock had captured Lux and sped past me, bound for Flandres.
As yet, no enemy forces approaching us, though an army of some forty thousand Frenchmen marched past our position with a report that they were bound for Hessen to bloody the upstart’s nose.
We cheered at the thought, and wished them the best of luck!
OoO
Although Glock never did encounter any enemy soldiers, he did have a devil of a time capturing mighty Flandres….twice during the siege, he was beset upon by well trained (though thankfully, ill-equipped) rebel forces, who were intent on driving him away.
He fought these attacks off, but they did steady damage to his force, to the point that he called upon me for assistance, as soon as my present siege was concluded (he also pointed out that one very good way to bring the siege to closure rapidly was to wait until the castle walls were breeched, then charge them…a thing the men would be reluctant to recommend on their own, he told me, but one which would get the job done quickly).
I tried it, and it worked just as he said it would, and we were able to wrap up our siege of Hainaut by April of 1544, and make toward Flandres shortly thereafter.
By mid June, we still had seen no sign of enemy forces (making this perhaps the easiest war that had ever been fought…thanks to Antoine’s capture of an army for us to use), and with Flandres in hand, we approached the Spaniards to talk peace, which they gladly accepted, in exchange for Lux and Hainaut.
Once more, the seeds that Antoine had planted during the course of his remarkable reign bore fruit.
By now, the Frenchmen had captured the province of Hessen from our German rivals, extorted lavish sums of money from them, and made off to fight elsewhere. Unfortunately, the 32,000 man Hessen army had barely been scratched, and had finally freed itself from the low countries and was bound for Kleves.
Knowing how thin the walls of the Keep of Kleves were, and given the rage of the Hessen army, we did not hold out much hope that the Dutchy would stand long against their might, so we consolidated our own forces in Cologne (attrition losses being such that we could now group the armies together without unduly straining the province….I did not know if that was a good thing or not!). All told, we still had some fifty thousand men in our force, five thousand horse, and twenty four guns….more numerous in all categories than our Hessen enemies.
I turn my force over to Glock’s control, and he merges the forces together, and prepares to move against the Hessens in Kleves. Freed of my military duties at last, I ride for Lorraine, wondering the whole way there how I will ever tell young Charles about the fate that befell his father. Little did I know that I had been beaten to the punch in a *most* insidious way, but more about that in a moment.
For Glock’s part, while he was on his way to Kleves, that province rises up in revolt! It’s only 14,000 men, and certainly no match for the angry Hessens, but it nicks them….wounds them….and it’s a victory of sorts, in my mind, and on October 2nd, 1544, the Army of Glock smashes the Hessen force, decimating them and driving them back across the Rhine. He pursues, smashing them again in Hessen itself in early November, and by year’s end, he has both Hessen provinces under the gun.
The Hessens sue for white peace on Christmas day, 1544, and we grant them their wish, grateful to be out of this war which saw such gains for our nation, but also such dreadful loss. But now I must backtrack, for there is more to this story, and while Glock was impressing upon the Hesse that Lorraine was not to be trifled with, I was fighting a different sort of battle in Lorraine….one that would determine the future of our Kingdom….
-=Vel=-
Lorraine in trouble....
The Pope Gets a New Home and Trouble in Lorraine
With the city of Rome in Turkish hands, and the Pope having fled from the Italian peninsula, it comes as no great surprise when he reappears in Spain, and declares that until such time as the Turk is driven from the holy city, Castille will serve as the center for the Holy Church.
This sets my mind spinning.
Eventually, we will have to bring our alliance ‘round and also do battle with The Turk….that much, I am convinced of. Every attempt made to stand against him thus far has ended badly for the European powers that have attempted it, but perhaps with the added weight of our alliance, it will be enough to turn the tide.
And, it does not escape my attention that whomever liberates Rome from Turkish hands will most likely be in a strong position indeed with the Holy Church….
I make a note of that, and file it away for later.
OoO
Upon returning home, I am greeted with a distressing, somewhat ominous sight.
There are more than ten thousand French troops in Lorraine, and Charles is not in the castle!
Rather, who do I find sitting on the throne of Lorraine and wearing her crown, but the Ambassador who attends all our alliance meetings, Francois! It is an affront, and my first thought is to have the man arrested for his abuse, but then it occurs to me that Lorraine’s army is leagues to the north fighting Hessens, and I do not know what has become of Charles.
“What news, Francois?” I asked him as casually as I could manage.
He sneered. “The news, my Lord Verge, is that Lorraine’s lands are forfeit to France for her misuse of the alliance!”
“Misuse of the alliance?! On what basis do you make this claim?” I thundered. “If you will recall, the Hessens declared againstn us!”
Francois shook his head. “I refer to your earlier war against Portugal, financed and fought entirely by France.” He said darkly. “A blatant bit of usury on the part of Lorraine, and my King has instructed me to collect that debt….as your King has fallen, and the heir is too young to make a proper King, I claim Lorraine for France, and our debt is settled.”
“Our debt is certainly not settled in this manner!” I shouted. “Get your arse out of that throne and tell me what has become of Charles this instant!”
Francois looked utterly bored with the exchange, and motioned to his men. “Slap him in irons and take him to the prison with Charles. We will let the French King decide what should be done with them in due course.”
And just like that, I was in chains!
It was not the homecoming I had expected.
OoO
January, 1545
“He….he’s not coming home….is he?” Charles asked me not long after I had been ushered into the cell with him.
The boy looked terrified, and it was apparent that they hadn’t been feeding him well…pale and drawn, and the look in his eyes told me that he already knew the answer to the question just asked.
I shook my head. “Your father died for Lorraine….building the Kingdom into an Empire to give to you to rule.”
“I don’t want an Empire, Uncle.” He told me quietly. “I want my father.”
I ran through every possible response I could make to that in my mind, and settled on a firm course of action. “Tough love” I guess you could call it. The boy was not yet old enough to be King, but he soon would be, and given our current plight, now was not the time to coddle him. His reign, if he ever came to power at all, would not be the smooth transition that marked the passage of Rene and the rise of Antoine….that much was abundantly clear. Therefore, there was no time for coddling.
I forced him to meet and hold my gaze. “Listen to me very carefully, Charles. Your father lives on through Lorraine. He gave his life’s blood to preserving and expanding the Kingdom for you….You want your father back? Yes! I would dearly love to have him back as well, but he’s gone, and his life’s work is about to be undone by an arrogant Frenchman who is now sitting upon the throne of Lorraine! Your throne, Charles….your father’s final gift to you. Now….if you want to squander you father’s final gift to you….if you want some stinking Frenchman to steal your birthright from you, then by all means, let us mourn your father’s passing and curl up into an infantile ball here in this cell until we rot, which the French will certainly allow us to do! Or….we can….you can, with my help, take back what is yours.”
“H….how can I?”
“With the death of your father, you are the rightful King of Lorraine.” I told him. “You are young, yes, but you are, nonetheless, the rightful King….you could, as your first Kingly duty, appoint me to be your regent until you come of age and we can coronate you properly, and then I will be free to act on your behalf.”
He stood before me than, and with big, frightened brown eyes, asked me timidly. “Would you? Would you serve as Regent to the King until I can claim the throne?”
I smiled. “With pleasure, Majesty.”
He was naturally shy, and of a vastly gentler nature than his father, but I sensed that he would make a good King, if only we could get him there.
OoO
Fortunately, that proved easier than I thought.
One of our guards was sympathetic to our plight and our cause, and he got the following letter out of the prison and to Glock.
General,
Your King has need of you in Lorraine! I urge you to make all haste here with every man you can spare! The French have decided that an independent Lorraine poses too much of a threat to her, and have put a French puppet on the throne. I myself am writing this missive from Lorraine’s dungeon, where Charles and I have been tucked away, until our eventual (I have no doubt) execution.
Make haste, My Lord General, and Godspeed.
-Hansen Verge, Regent of the King
OoO
April 9th, 1545
We heard the sounds of battle raging above us, but could only guess at what was going on. The clang of steel on steel, screams, the smell of smoke as fires burned.
Glock had come home, I surmised…but to what end? How fared the battle?
It infuriated me not to know!
I had my answer soon enough though, when the sounds of mail-clad feet marched closer to our door.
Were they Lorraine loyalists? Men of the army of Glock, come to set us free? Or were they men of Francois, come to give us a quick death, and make Glock’s arrival a moot point?
I honestly did not know, but can tell you my profound and heartfelt relief when the door was flung wide, and there stood Glock himself, carrying the head of Francois tucked casually under one arm.
He tossed it to me casually, as though it were nothing more than a small sack of potatoes, and said “Here you are, My Lord Regent…and a late Merry Christmas to you!”
It was certainly the strangest, but also one of the best Christmas presents I had ever received, late or not!
Freedom, represented by the head of Francois I held in my hands.
-=Vel=-
The Pope Gets a New Home and Trouble in Lorraine
With the city of Rome in Turkish hands, and the Pope having fled from the Italian peninsula, it comes as no great surprise when he reappears in Spain, and declares that until such time as the Turk is driven from the holy city, Castille will serve as the center for the Holy Church.
This sets my mind spinning.
Eventually, we will have to bring our alliance ‘round and also do battle with The Turk….that much, I am convinced of. Every attempt made to stand against him thus far has ended badly for the European powers that have attempted it, but perhaps with the added weight of our alliance, it will be enough to turn the tide.
And, it does not escape my attention that whomever liberates Rome from Turkish hands will most likely be in a strong position indeed with the Holy Church….
I make a note of that, and file it away for later.
OoO
Upon returning home, I am greeted with a distressing, somewhat ominous sight.
There are more than ten thousand French troops in Lorraine, and Charles is not in the castle!
Rather, who do I find sitting on the throne of Lorraine and wearing her crown, but the Ambassador who attends all our alliance meetings, Francois! It is an affront, and my first thought is to have the man arrested for his abuse, but then it occurs to me that Lorraine’s army is leagues to the north fighting Hessens, and I do not know what has become of Charles.
“What news, Francois?” I asked him as casually as I could manage.
He sneered. “The news, my Lord Verge, is that Lorraine’s lands are forfeit to France for her misuse of the alliance!”
“Misuse of the alliance?! On what basis do you make this claim?” I thundered. “If you will recall, the Hessens declared againstn us!”
Francois shook his head. “I refer to your earlier war against Portugal, financed and fought entirely by France.” He said darkly. “A blatant bit of usury on the part of Lorraine, and my King has instructed me to collect that debt….as your King has fallen, and the heir is too young to make a proper King, I claim Lorraine for France, and our debt is settled.”
“Our debt is certainly not settled in this manner!” I shouted. “Get your arse out of that throne and tell me what has become of Charles this instant!”
Francois looked utterly bored with the exchange, and motioned to his men. “Slap him in irons and take him to the prison with Charles. We will let the French King decide what should be done with them in due course.”
And just like that, I was in chains!
It was not the homecoming I had expected.
OoO
January, 1545
“He….he’s not coming home….is he?” Charles asked me not long after I had been ushered into the cell with him.
The boy looked terrified, and it was apparent that they hadn’t been feeding him well…pale and drawn, and the look in his eyes told me that he already knew the answer to the question just asked.
I shook my head. “Your father died for Lorraine….building the Kingdom into an Empire to give to you to rule.”
“I don’t want an Empire, Uncle.” He told me quietly. “I want my father.”
I ran through every possible response I could make to that in my mind, and settled on a firm course of action. “Tough love” I guess you could call it. The boy was not yet old enough to be King, but he soon would be, and given our current plight, now was not the time to coddle him. His reign, if he ever came to power at all, would not be the smooth transition that marked the passage of Rene and the rise of Antoine….that much was abundantly clear. Therefore, there was no time for coddling.
I forced him to meet and hold my gaze. “Listen to me very carefully, Charles. Your father lives on through Lorraine. He gave his life’s blood to preserving and expanding the Kingdom for you….You want your father back? Yes! I would dearly love to have him back as well, but he’s gone, and his life’s work is about to be undone by an arrogant Frenchman who is now sitting upon the throne of Lorraine! Your throne, Charles….your father’s final gift to you. Now….if you want to squander you father’s final gift to you….if you want some stinking Frenchman to steal your birthright from you, then by all means, let us mourn your father’s passing and curl up into an infantile ball here in this cell until we rot, which the French will certainly allow us to do! Or….we can….you can, with my help, take back what is yours.”
“H….how can I?”
“With the death of your father, you are the rightful King of Lorraine.” I told him. “You are young, yes, but you are, nonetheless, the rightful King….you could, as your first Kingly duty, appoint me to be your regent until you come of age and we can coronate you properly, and then I will be free to act on your behalf.”
He stood before me than, and with big, frightened brown eyes, asked me timidly. “Would you? Would you serve as Regent to the King until I can claim the throne?”
I smiled. “With pleasure, Majesty.”
He was naturally shy, and of a vastly gentler nature than his father, but I sensed that he would make a good King, if only we could get him there.
OoO
Fortunately, that proved easier than I thought.
One of our guards was sympathetic to our plight and our cause, and he got the following letter out of the prison and to Glock.
General,
Your King has need of you in Lorraine! I urge you to make all haste here with every man you can spare! The French have decided that an independent Lorraine poses too much of a threat to her, and have put a French puppet on the throne. I myself am writing this missive from Lorraine’s dungeon, where Charles and I have been tucked away, until our eventual (I have no doubt) execution.
Make haste, My Lord General, and Godspeed.
-Hansen Verge, Regent of the King
OoO
April 9th, 1545
We heard the sounds of battle raging above us, but could only guess at what was going on. The clang of steel on steel, screams, the smell of smoke as fires burned.
Glock had come home, I surmised…but to what end? How fared the battle?
It infuriated me not to know!
I had my answer soon enough though, when the sounds of mail-clad feet marched closer to our door.
Were they Lorraine loyalists? Men of the army of Glock, come to set us free? Or were they men of Francois, come to give us a quick death, and make Glock’s arrival a moot point?
I honestly did not know, but can tell you my profound and heartfelt relief when the door was flung wide, and there stood Glock himself, carrying the head of Francois tucked casually under one arm.
He tossed it to me casually, as though it were nothing more than a small sack of potatoes, and said “Here you are, My Lord Regent…and a late Merry Christmas to you!”
It was certainly the strangest, but also one of the best Christmas presents I had ever received, late or not!
Freedom, represented by the head of Francois I held in my hands.
-=Vel=-
Summary of the Reign of the Usurper 1544
Economic Data: 14.1 (no change from Antoine’s last year)
No accomplishments of note, save for wasting all our time.
Had Glock not beheaded him, I’d have poisoned the son of a goat, and not felt the least bit bad for it. I do not say it lightly, but believe me when I tell you that I was happy to see the man dead.
-=Vel=-
Economic Data: 14.1 (no change from Antoine’s last year)
No accomplishments of note, save for wasting all our time.
Had Glock not beheaded him, I’d have poisoned the son of a goat, and not felt the least bit bad for it. I do not say it lightly, but believe me when I tell you that I was happy to see the man dead.
-=Vel=-
Turkish Delight
1545 - King Charles the First takes the Throne
Charles was young, yes, but he was also incredibly quick-witted, and he impressed everyone to such a degree that in less than a year’s time, it was widely held that he needed little, if any assistance where governance was concerned, and so, I officially set aside my duties as Regent on January of the very next year. I didn’t much care for the day to day aspects of ruling in any case, and do not suspect that I’d have made more than an average ruler, so it was just as well.
As far as the Kingdom went, I held off formally incorporating our new possessions (Lux and Hainaut) into the Kingdom until the King could do it himself, and that was his very first act, as King, to formally bring two new provinces into the fold. A proud day indeed, and a fine way to begin his reign!
OoO
Something Turkish This Way Comes…..
August 3rd, 1546, less than a year after our new King had taken the throne, trouble of a different sort found our fragile nation, as the Mighty Turk, seeking to expand his strangle-hold on Italy, declares against the men of Savoy. As a single body, the Alliance of Lorraine (Lorraine, France) rallies to the side of our Savoian allies, and war has again found us, and now we come face to face with a simply *dreadful* opponent. The vast armies of the seemingly unstoppable Turk.
Money was a bit tight, as we had spent most of the contents of the treasury bulking up our army with Infantry recruitment, funding mercantile ventures, and the like, so when this war came, it caught us somewhat unprepared. Nonetheless, we had a fine army, split into segments with Glock commanding a force in Lorraine numbering 22,000/5583/36, and some 15,000 Infantry stationed centrally in Hainaut to keep rebellions down in our vastly expanded Kingdom.
When war came, an emergency session of our War Captains was called, and it was quickly determined that the revolt risk was far outweighed by the need to put as strong a force as we could afield against the armies of the Turk. We had seen Turkish forces smash European armies time and time again, and if this was a fight we were going to make, then we could not make it in half measures.
Thus, Lorraine gambled on her future again, and opted to send her entire army (both forces) marching through France, thence to Savoy, and into Italy to take the fight to the Turk, and I was charged with the task of raising a force in Lorraine that was large enough to deal with any rebellious elements in our new holdings (a task I could not begin until January of the new year).
Success here could truly put Lorraine at the center of the international scene….failure would undo fifty years of careful work.
Time to roll the dice.
-=Vel=-
1545 - King Charles the First takes the Throne
Charles was young, yes, but he was also incredibly quick-witted, and he impressed everyone to such a degree that in less than a year’s time, it was widely held that he needed little, if any assistance where governance was concerned, and so, I officially set aside my duties as Regent on January of the very next year. I didn’t much care for the day to day aspects of ruling in any case, and do not suspect that I’d have made more than an average ruler, so it was just as well.
As far as the Kingdom went, I held off formally incorporating our new possessions (Lux and Hainaut) into the Kingdom until the King could do it himself, and that was his very first act, as King, to formally bring two new provinces into the fold. A proud day indeed, and a fine way to begin his reign!
OoO
Something Turkish This Way Comes…..
August 3rd, 1546, less than a year after our new King had taken the throne, trouble of a different sort found our fragile nation, as the Mighty Turk, seeking to expand his strangle-hold on Italy, declares against the men of Savoy. As a single body, the Alliance of Lorraine (Lorraine, France) rallies to the side of our Savoian allies, and war has again found us, and now we come face to face with a simply *dreadful* opponent. The vast armies of the seemingly unstoppable Turk.
Money was a bit tight, as we had spent most of the contents of the treasury bulking up our army with Infantry recruitment, funding mercantile ventures, and the like, so when this war came, it caught us somewhat unprepared. Nonetheless, we had a fine army, split into segments with Glock commanding a force in Lorraine numbering 22,000/5583/36, and some 15,000 Infantry stationed centrally in Hainaut to keep rebellions down in our vastly expanded Kingdom.
When war came, an emergency session of our War Captains was called, and it was quickly determined that the revolt risk was far outweighed by the need to put as strong a force as we could afield against the armies of the Turk. We had seen Turkish forces smash European armies time and time again, and if this was a fight we were going to make, then we could not make it in half measures.
Thus, Lorraine gambled on her future again, and opted to send her entire army (both forces) marching through France, thence to Savoy, and into Italy to take the fight to the Turk, and I was charged with the task of raising a force in Lorraine that was large enough to deal with any rebellious elements in our new holdings (a task I could not begin until January of the new year).
Success here could truly put Lorraine at the center of the international scene….failure would undo fifty years of careful work.
Time to roll the dice.
-=Vel=-
'tis true....in a moment of weakness, I broke down and purchased EU2, but...I still have EU1 on my system, and of course, still have all my notes....so while I'm learning the ropes of the new game, this AAR will continue to its conclusion....
-=Vel=-
-=Vel=-
Getting handled by the Turk
Glock was disgusted.
No….it went well beyond that. He was humiliated, furious, fed-up, and irritated beyond belief.
“Good Christ, Colonel…there are only seven thousand men over there and yet, they will not yield! Never in all my days have I seen such ferocity!”
Colonel Tachner nodded, the frustration on his own face echoing that of his superior.
After a long moment, Glock sighed heavily. “Well, I hear that the French are approaching with some thirty thousand troops, preparing to have a go at them. If the attrition doesn’t kill us to a man as they pass through, I move that we march straight for Romagne and get at the root of the problem….let the Frenchies and Savoians fight over Milan while we strike more deeply….”
To say that this latest military had been a success to date would be to gloss over what had actually occurred. More than four thousand troops had been lost simply getting to Italy, thanks to poor coordination among the allies and too many troops trying to march through the same places at the same time.
It had taken three separate assaults to drive the fierce Turks out of Savoy herself. Each time, the army of Lorraine gave better than she got, casualty-wise, but the stubborn Turks were resolute, and determined to hold their ground (the Turkish army then was some 25,000….finally worn down to 10,000 and pushed from Savoy to Milan after standing against some half dozen attacks by us, the French, and the Savoians themselves, and now, we were repeating the process in Milan.
Even more troubling was the fact that the report was that some ten thousand replacement troops for the Turk had been raised in Italy and were marching toward Milan. If we did not gain ground against them soon, we would be unable to stem the tide….if we didn’t smother their Italian provinces soon, they would be able to recruit faster than we would be able to kill them.
Of course, there were bright spots….just not on our particular front. The mighty Poles, sensing an opportunity had declared against the Turk, and had swept south in force, occupying large swathes of territory in what was once Hungary, and reclaiming much of former Venice (and was, in fact, while we were in Milan, busy laying siege to the city of Venice proper!), and more recently, Spain had gotten back into the fight, and was trolling the Med, island hopping and assaulting isolated forces, but leery of meeting the main body of Turkish forces head on…and after our repeated failures against a numerically and technologically inferior foe, I could certainly see why!
Finally though, thanks to the timely arrival of a new French force, we did see some progress on our front in the war, and the Frenchmen settled in for a siege of Milan, with the battered armies of Savoy moving in to assist.
Glock led the army of Lorraine (reduced to some 35,000—combined our guys in a single force after numerous battles--in total after our long journey and our various battles) through the siege works at Milan, and to lightly held Emilia and set up a rolling siege (sent four waves of attackers in to keep the pressure on longer). Within a month, Emilia is flying the banner of Lorraine, but some 8,000 new Turkish recruits are pouring in from southern Italy, so Glock consolidates the men, and marches on Romagne.
Fortunately for us, the Turkish forces we faced were little more than raw recruits, and we were able to drive them off and leave a covering force in Romagne, and follow the Turks back to Rome herself, where we destroyed the fledgling army to a man, and put Rome under Lorraine’s guns. Now all that remained was to wait….
OoO
Glock was disgusted.
No….it went well beyond that. He was humiliated, furious, fed-up, and irritated beyond belief.
“Good Christ, Colonel…there are only seven thousand men over there and yet, they will not yield! Never in all my days have I seen such ferocity!”
Colonel Tachner nodded, the frustration on his own face echoing that of his superior.
After a long moment, Glock sighed heavily. “Well, I hear that the French are approaching with some thirty thousand troops, preparing to have a go at them. If the attrition doesn’t kill us to a man as they pass through, I move that we march straight for Romagne and get at the root of the problem….let the Frenchies and Savoians fight over Milan while we strike more deeply….”
To say that this latest military had been a success to date would be to gloss over what had actually occurred. More than four thousand troops had been lost simply getting to Italy, thanks to poor coordination among the allies and too many troops trying to march through the same places at the same time.
It had taken three separate assaults to drive the fierce Turks out of Savoy herself. Each time, the army of Lorraine gave better than she got, casualty-wise, but the stubborn Turks were resolute, and determined to hold their ground (the Turkish army then was some 25,000….finally worn down to 10,000 and pushed from Savoy to Milan after standing against some half dozen attacks by us, the French, and the Savoians themselves, and now, we were repeating the process in Milan.
Even more troubling was the fact that the report was that some ten thousand replacement troops for the Turk had been raised in Italy and were marching toward Milan. If we did not gain ground against them soon, we would be unable to stem the tide….if we didn’t smother their Italian provinces soon, they would be able to recruit faster than we would be able to kill them.
Of course, there were bright spots….just not on our particular front. The mighty Poles, sensing an opportunity had declared against the Turk, and had swept south in force, occupying large swathes of territory in what was once Hungary, and reclaiming much of former Venice (and was, in fact, while we were in Milan, busy laying siege to the city of Venice proper!), and more recently, Spain had gotten back into the fight, and was trolling the Med, island hopping and assaulting isolated forces, but leery of meeting the main body of Turkish forces head on…and after our repeated failures against a numerically and technologically inferior foe, I could certainly see why!
Finally though, thanks to the timely arrival of a new French force, we did see some progress on our front in the war, and the Frenchmen settled in for a siege of Milan, with the battered armies of Savoy moving in to assist.
Glock led the army of Lorraine (reduced to some 35,000—combined our guys in a single force after numerous battles--in total after our long journey and our various battles) through the siege works at Milan, and to lightly held Emilia and set up a rolling siege (sent four waves of attackers in to keep the pressure on longer). Within a month, Emilia is flying the banner of Lorraine, but some 8,000 new Turkish recruits are pouring in from southern Italy, so Glock consolidates the men, and marches on Romagne.
Fortunately for us, the Turkish forces we faced were little more than raw recruits, and we were able to drive them off and leave a covering force in Romagne, and follow the Turks back to Rome herself, where we destroyed the fledgling army to a man, and put Rome under Lorraine’s guns. Now all that remained was to wait….
OoO
No! Traitor to Europa Universalis I!! Rally, my Siberian hordes! Today, we war on Lorraine!!!!
It had taken us the better part of a year to route the Turk from Savoy. Another year to get to, and establish our sieges in Italy….two years come and gone so quickly. And in that time, we could count the number of victories against Turkish forces in the field on one hand, while the number of times we had been forced to retreat and regroup would have taken a great many fingers and toes.
Not a stellar record, by any means.
And twice during mid 1549, as we waited out the siege of Rome, moderately sized Turkish relief forces landed in an effort to drive us off, and on both occasions we had to fight tooth and nail not to lose control of the siege. Both battles wore our army down steadily, and by the time Rome was flying the banner of Lorraine and marching back to Romagne to end the siege there, our army had been reduced to just a shade over 20,000 in all.
Not long after we left Rome and unified our force back in Romagne (a siege that was finally showing some progress!), some 7,000 Turks landed in Rome and briefly flirted with the notion of attempting to retake the city, and then lifted the siege and marched on our battered army.
We stood our ground as best we could, but were ultimately humiliated by the numerically inferior Turk, seeing some five thousand of our finest die at the hands of the blood thirsty Turk.
The army retreated in shame to Rome, and blessedly, the Turk continued northward to inflict his wrath on our allies, though all were convinced that had he marched back to Rome, we would have surely lost the whole of the army. Even without this, however, it was a devastating setback, for all our work in weakening the defenses at Romagne had been undone and hasty repairs had been effected. We would have to begin again.
Despite the fact that recruitment began immediately in Romagne, our battered force recovered, and marched back to lock down the province.
Some three months later, we drove off three thousand new infantry recruits and continued doggedly. Time passed, but the small keep that guarded the province was stubborn, and during the course of our many battles, we had lost *all* of our cannon, having had to abandon them during our various panic-driven retreats away from the savage Turkish armies.
So we continued on as best we could without them.
Months passed, and the anxious eyes of our scouts were constantly on the lookout for marauding Turks.
None came, and we assumed that our allies had fared better than we.
In the end, we were rewarded for our tenacity early in 1552. Six long years after the war had begun, Lorraine got herself out of it. The Turk, set upon by no less than ten European nations was pressed hard, and was eagerly looking for ways to reduce the number of fronts he was fighting on.
Although we had not fared so well in open battle with his forces, we had succeeded in stripping away three territories from his possession, and with so many enemies coming at him from so many fronts, the Turk took our offer as graciously as could be expected, and Lorraine got herself out of the battle with Turkey. Never had I been more relieved in the whole of my life! It was no secret, especially given the string of stinging defeats we suffered at the hands of the mighty Turk, that time was very definitely our enemy. We simply lacked the resources to field replacements fast enough, and the ability to kill the enemy fast enough, to be able to afford the luxury of a protracted war with such a power.
The upshot was….we had done it! Rome was back in Catholic hands, and even better, His Holiness decreed that the fair city would once again become the center of the Catholic Church, with Lorraine’s banner flying just beneath that of the Papacy!
In all my wildest imaginings, I never envisioned Lorraine with holdings in Italy. We had truly come of age. Perhaps not a major power in Europe yet, but we were rising stars, and clearly had moved above and beyond the minors (Lorraine’s holdings at this point are: Lorraine, Pfalz, Mainz, Kleaves, Cologne, Lux, Hainaut, Romagne, and Rome). Most significantly, this gave Lorraine a thing she had never had in her entire history….a port! Not that it made a huge difference for us, because we had no navy, nor any immediate plans to build one, but still! We had a port! (we still had nowhere to send our colonists, as we knew nothing of the world outside of Europe in those days)
For my part….I had the not inconsiderable job of maintaining order in our new possessions while the whole of our army was away, and predictably, not long after the army had its marching orders, Spanish dissidents in Hainaut, and Spanish loyalists in Cologne rose up to cause trouble (12k in Cologne, and 10k in Hainaut). These dissidents were unorganized….little more than a mob….nonetheless, they did disrupt taxation from those lands, and made travel of governmental officials impossible.
I was powerless to do anything to bring them to heel until we collected what tax revenues we could at the start of the year, and at that time (1547), I oversaw the commission and recruitment of some 12,000 new Infantry in Lorraine herself. These were dubbed simply “The Home Guard,” and after a token bit of training, I instructed their new commander (one Colonel Haas) to complete their training en route and end the matter of the rebellions decisively (my report was that the rebels in Cologne were verging on capturing the small keep there, and then had plans to make to Hainaut seeking safety in numbers….it struck me as pivotal that we disrupt these plans and prevent the rebel forces from presenting a united front.
At least in that, things went well enough. The new recruits smashed the rebels in Cologne and relieved the siege there, but not without taking substantial losses (some 4,000 of our troops). An additional 2,000 recruits were raised in Lux, where the Home Guard Marched to wait for them. By late year, both rebellions had been well and duly put down, but we lacked sufficient funds to pay for additional recruits, so it was my hope that no more were needed.
This trend was to continue throughout the entire duration of the war. Every time I thought I had the situation well in hand, our “Home Guard” would be called upon to battle rebels, and it would succeed, but the losses were always higher than I felt they should have been (probably because I lacked the funds to add a cavalry contingent to the force), and so it was always a balancing act….try to keep just enough forces in Lorraine to battle one, *maybe* two rebel groups during the course of a year, and hope like hell that losses weren’t so great that I’d not be able to bring the Home Guard back up to strength the following year.
Lorraine was walking the tightrope during that period. Truly.
By the end of 1552, when peace had been signed, and the ink was dry on the treaty that protected us from Turkish wrath for five years, our armies were in sad condition indeed. No thanks to the long journey, the constant fighting with the Turk, three sieges, and a variety of rebellions, our once proud army of Lorraine had been reduced to the following:
The Army of Lorraine (in Hainaut): 9775 Infantry
The Army of Rome (in Rome): 7365
And that’s it.
That’s how close we came to the edge.
It would take years of peace and diligent building to recover from this “victory.” I wondered if we would get it.
-=Vel=-
Not a stellar record, by any means.
And twice during mid 1549, as we waited out the siege of Rome, moderately sized Turkish relief forces landed in an effort to drive us off, and on both occasions we had to fight tooth and nail not to lose control of the siege. Both battles wore our army down steadily, and by the time Rome was flying the banner of Lorraine and marching back to Romagne to end the siege there, our army had been reduced to just a shade over 20,000 in all.
Not long after we left Rome and unified our force back in Romagne (a siege that was finally showing some progress!), some 7,000 Turks landed in Rome and briefly flirted with the notion of attempting to retake the city, and then lifted the siege and marched on our battered army.
We stood our ground as best we could, but were ultimately humiliated by the numerically inferior Turk, seeing some five thousand of our finest die at the hands of the blood thirsty Turk.
The army retreated in shame to Rome, and blessedly, the Turk continued northward to inflict his wrath on our allies, though all were convinced that had he marched back to Rome, we would have surely lost the whole of the army. Even without this, however, it was a devastating setback, for all our work in weakening the defenses at Romagne had been undone and hasty repairs had been effected. We would have to begin again.
Despite the fact that recruitment began immediately in Romagne, our battered force recovered, and marched back to lock down the province.
Some three months later, we drove off three thousand new infantry recruits and continued doggedly. Time passed, but the small keep that guarded the province was stubborn, and during the course of our many battles, we had lost *all* of our cannon, having had to abandon them during our various panic-driven retreats away from the savage Turkish armies.
So we continued on as best we could without them.
Months passed, and the anxious eyes of our scouts were constantly on the lookout for marauding Turks.
None came, and we assumed that our allies had fared better than we.
In the end, we were rewarded for our tenacity early in 1552. Six long years after the war had begun, Lorraine got herself out of it. The Turk, set upon by no less than ten European nations was pressed hard, and was eagerly looking for ways to reduce the number of fronts he was fighting on.
Although we had not fared so well in open battle with his forces, we had succeeded in stripping away three territories from his possession, and with so many enemies coming at him from so many fronts, the Turk took our offer as graciously as could be expected, and Lorraine got herself out of the battle with Turkey. Never had I been more relieved in the whole of my life! It was no secret, especially given the string of stinging defeats we suffered at the hands of the mighty Turk, that time was very definitely our enemy. We simply lacked the resources to field replacements fast enough, and the ability to kill the enemy fast enough, to be able to afford the luxury of a protracted war with such a power.
The upshot was….we had done it! Rome was back in Catholic hands, and even better, His Holiness decreed that the fair city would once again become the center of the Catholic Church, with Lorraine’s banner flying just beneath that of the Papacy!
In all my wildest imaginings, I never envisioned Lorraine with holdings in Italy. We had truly come of age. Perhaps not a major power in Europe yet, but we were rising stars, and clearly had moved above and beyond the minors (Lorraine’s holdings at this point are: Lorraine, Pfalz, Mainz, Kleaves, Cologne, Lux, Hainaut, Romagne, and Rome). Most significantly, this gave Lorraine a thing she had never had in her entire history….a port! Not that it made a huge difference for us, because we had no navy, nor any immediate plans to build one, but still! We had a port! (we still had nowhere to send our colonists, as we knew nothing of the world outside of Europe in those days)
For my part….I had the not inconsiderable job of maintaining order in our new possessions while the whole of our army was away, and predictably, not long after the army had its marching orders, Spanish dissidents in Hainaut, and Spanish loyalists in Cologne rose up to cause trouble (12k in Cologne, and 10k in Hainaut). These dissidents were unorganized….little more than a mob….nonetheless, they did disrupt taxation from those lands, and made travel of governmental officials impossible.
I was powerless to do anything to bring them to heel until we collected what tax revenues we could at the start of the year, and at that time (1547), I oversaw the commission and recruitment of some 12,000 new Infantry in Lorraine herself. These were dubbed simply “The Home Guard,” and after a token bit of training, I instructed their new commander (one Colonel Haas) to complete their training en route and end the matter of the rebellions decisively (my report was that the rebels in Cologne were verging on capturing the small keep there, and then had plans to make to Hainaut seeking safety in numbers….it struck me as pivotal that we disrupt these plans and prevent the rebel forces from presenting a united front.
At least in that, things went well enough. The new recruits smashed the rebels in Cologne and relieved the siege there, but not without taking substantial losses (some 4,000 of our troops). An additional 2,000 recruits were raised in Lux, where the Home Guard Marched to wait for them. By late year, both rebellions had been well and duly put down, but we lacked sufficient funds to pay for additional recruits, so it was my hope that no more were needed.
This trend was to continue throughout the entire duration of the war. Every time I thought I had the situation well in hand, our “Home Guard” would be called upon to battle rebels, and it would succeed, but the losses were always higher than I felt they should have been (probably because I lacked the funds to add a cavalry contingent to the force), and so it was always a balancing act….try to keep just enough forces in Lorraine to battle one, *maybe* two rebel groups during the course of a year, and hope like hell that losses weren’t so great that I’d not be able to bring the Home Guard back up to strength the following year.
Lorraine was walking the tightrope during that period. Truly.
By the end of 1552, when peace had been signed, and the ink was dry on the treaty that protected us from Turkish wrath for five years, our armies were in sad condition indeed. No thanks to the long journey, the constant fighting with the Turk, three sieges, and a variety of rebellions, our once proud army of Lorraine had been reduced to the following:
The Army of Lorraine (in Hainaut): 9775 Infantry
The Army of Rome (in Rome): 7365
And that’s it.
That’s how close we came to the edge.
It would take years of peace and diligent building to recover from this “victory.” I wondered if we would get it.
-=Vel=-
Just keep up relations with most of Europe and a little bit of the Turk, and even if they DoW you they're considered a big badboy now probably and you can just use that status to have Europe help you out.
Great countiuing vel. I am sure you will get out of your little problem after the "victory"
You are such a great player so it will work
You are such a great player so it will work
Keeping our heads down! (but not for long)
We had our answer sooner than we would have liked, and it was not favorable. Only a few months after peace had been signed, we suffered a revolt in Romagne. Our soldiers fought bravely, and the revolt was crushed, but our already thin ranks were thinned further still, down to a scant 6920 left in our Italian possessions.
Fortunately for us, this was to be the only trouble we faced before the dawning of the new year, and 1553 got off to a decent start…as the year’s tax revenues poured in, we were able to give our two armies some badly needed reinforcement, recruiting 3,000 men into the ranks of our Infantry in Romagne, and 2,000 at home.
Additionally, Holland breaks free from their Spanish oppressors, and we add them to our alliance (now consisting of France, Savoy, and Holland), and more good news was to come our way later in the year, as the war between France, Savoy, and the Turk raged on, and Savoy was able to double the size of her holdings, gaining Milan and Mantua from the cursed Turk!
Things were less rosy on other fronts, however. The constant fighting and sudden surge of religious “musical chairs” saw rebellions flaring up everywhere! So much so, that we felt rather hemmed in by them. In mid-year, they broke the government of Hanover to the north of us, were laying siege to Munster, and had routed a small garrison in Hessen and were laying siege there as well. We prayed that when the rebels had finished their work in the north, they did not march south and cross the border into our territory. In other areas along our border, Artois and Flandres were both in rebel hands, and three separate groups had converged on Paris and were laying in a siege. Dangerous times to be traveling indeed. In surveying the lands surrounding ours, it seemed as though the whole world had….devolved somehow. Reverted to a stone age barbarism.
It was terrifying, but we were resolute. Determined to consolidate our holdings and make our recent gains pay handsome dividends.
We had an Empire to grow, after all!
The next span of years were, fortunately for our growing Kingdom, fairly quiet ones. To be sure, we had the occasional riot to deal with, but we kept the strength of our armies increasing, and kept our economy growing slowly but steadily.
Economic Summary 1544 - 1557
1544 14.1
1545 14.3
1546 15.9
1547 16.1
1548 14.5
1549 17.4
1550 17.4
1551 18.5
1552 18.0
1553 17.9
1554 17.2
1555 18.8
1556 20.4
1557 21.0
And then, in the relative quietude that had become Lorraine’s existence, something remarkable happened in the spring of 1558 that would change everything for us. At the time, we had no notion or understanding of just how powerful the unexpected development would be, and it would take decades for the event to truly bear fruit, but it was coming….it was coming.
OoO
In May of 1558, mighty France makes a declaration of war against the Helvetians and their Wurtemburger allies, who, in years previous, had captured Lyonnais from them. Anxious for revenge, they call upon the allies to rally behind them, and both Lorraine and Savoy answer that call.
Holland, however, proves fickle, and does not.
The alliance, with Lorraine at the head, had been successful because the member states could rely on one another to stay true to their word and rise in defense of each other. Holland broke with that, and enraged our King.
It was an affront to Lorraine’s leadership, and a situation that could not be allowed to go un-confronted, so just as his father before him had made an example of tiny Kleves, so now did King Charles of Lorraine realize that war would have to be declared against the Hollanders to make an example of them. It was a point of honor, and Lorraine took her honor seriously indeed.
In July, our military technology improves (LandTech 8 - Arquebus), and France ruthlessly prosecutes the war against its enemies, annexing Helvetia in October, and Wurtemburg in December, growing their realm with an impressive display of their military might, and by the dawning of the new year, Lorraine was ready to prosecute their war against Holland for their disobedience.
OoO
-=Vel=-
We had our answer sooner than we would have liked, and it was not favorable. Only a few months after peace had been signed, we suffered a revolt in Romagne. Our soldiers fought bravely, and the revolt was crushed, but our already thin ranks were thinned further still, down to a scant 6920 left in our Italian possessions.
Fortunately for us, this was to be the only trouble we faced before the dawning of the new year, and 1553 got off to a decent start…as the year’s tax revenues poured in, we were able to give our two armies some badly needed reinforcement, recruiting 3,000 men into the ranks of our Infantry in Romagne, and 2,000 at home.
Additionally, Holland breaks free from their Spanish oppressors, and we add them to our alliance (now consisting of France, Savoy, and Holland), and more good news was to come our way later in the year, as the war between France, Savoy, and the Turk raged on, and Savoy was able to double the size of her holdings, gaining Milan and Mantua from the cursed Turk!
Things were less rosy on other fronts, however. The constant fighting and sudden surge of religious “musical chairs” saw rebellions flaring up everywhere! So much so, that we felt rather hemmed in by them. In mid-year, they broke the government of Hanover to the north of us, were laying siege to Munster, and had routed a small garrison in Hessen and were laying siege there as well. We prayed that when the rebels had finished their work in the north, they did not march south and cross the border into our territory. In other areas along our border, Artois and Flandres were both in rebel hands, and three separate groups had converged on Paris and were laying in a siege. Dangerous times to be traveling indeed. In surveying the lands surrounding ours, it seemed as though the whole world had….devolved somehow. Reverted to a stone age barbarism.
It was terrifying, but we were resolute. Determined to consolidate our holdings and make our recent gains pay handsome dividends.
We had an Empire to grow, after all!
The next span of years were, fortunately for our growing Kingdom, fairly quiet ones. To be sure, we had the occasional riot to deal with, but we kept the strength of our armies increasing, and kept our economy growing slowly but steadily.
Economic Summary 1544 - 1557
1544 14.1
1545 14.3
1546 15.9
1547 16.1
1548 14.5
1549 17.4
1550 17.4
1551 18.5
1552 18.0
1553 17.9
1554 17.2
1555 18.8
1556 20.4
1557 21.0
And then, in the relative quietude that had become Lorraine’s existence, something remarkable happened in the spring of 1558 that would change everything for us. At the time, we had no notion or understanding of just how powerful the unexpected development would be, and it would take decades for the event to truly bear fruit, but it was coming….it was coming.
OoO
In May of 1558, mighty France makes a declaration of war against the Helvetians and their Wurtemburger allies, who, in years previous, had captured Lyonnais from them. Anxious for revenge, they call upon the allies to rally behind them, and both Lorraine and Savoy answer that call.
Holland, however, proves fickle, and does not.
The alliance, with Lorraine at the head, had been successful because the member states could rely on one another to stay true to their word and rise in defense of each other. Holland broke with that, and enraged our King.
It was an affront to Lorraine’s leadership, and a situation that could not be allowed to go un-confronted, so just as his father before him had made an example of tiny Kleves, so now did King Charles of Lorraine realize that war would have to be declared against the Hollanders to make an example of them. It was a point of honor, and Lorraine took her honor seriously indeed.
In July, our military technology improves (LandTech 8 - Arquebus), and France ruthlessly prosecutes the war against its enemies, annexing Helvetia in October, and Wurtemburg in December, growing their realm with an impressive display of their military might, and by the dawning of the new year, Lorraine was ready to prosecute their war against Holland for their disobedience.
OoO
-=Vel=-
Paying the Piper
Punishing disobedience
In January 1559, we find ourselves with 175d in our treasury, and as we continue our troop buildup for our declaration against the Hollanders, we are the recipient of a most fortunate blessing! Another Explorer and Adventurer presents himself to the Court, and pledges his service to our cause! We incorporate his company of adventurous men into our armies, and continue to make preparations, regarding this as a good omen indeed, for the war ahead, and in April, we get still more good news! It seems that our recent acquisition of a port in our Italian holdings has generated significant enthusiasm for our navy, and Lorraine’s five largest mercantile companies each gifted a sleek trading ship, modified for war to our King. Lorraine now has a fleet presence, and the trappings of Empire continue to fall into place!
By June, thanks to continuous recruitment, the Army of Lorraine weighs in, in the neighborhood of 25,000 (19,336/5826/0), with an additional contingent of 5,000 infantry having been raised for Teufel (our new explorer), rounding out his command to an even 6,000.
Our enemy is, of course, the backstabbing folk of Holland, whom we embraced as brothers, and who later stained our honor with their cowardice.
They have some 12,000 men in their army, and we are not expecting any particular difficulties, so when war is declared (June 1, 1559), we do not call on our allies. The stain of honor is on us, not them, and we shall deal with the problem.
Decisively.
After the declaration, our main force marches on Zeeland, while the Adventurer Teufel leads his command to Flandres to tie up the province. The plan is to let him take what time he needs, occupying the Hollanders’ richest territory, while the main army rips up the minimal fortifications of our enemies, and that is exactly the way the war plays out.
On the very day that our forces arrived in Zeeland, we lay in a savage (some might say reckless, but with a 5:1 advantage, it was hardly that), and within two weeks, the matter is decided.
A terrified army of Dutchmen scampers ‘round our main battle force, none too eager to experience our wrath firsthand, and lays in a slow, methodical siege of Cologne.
So be it. Our main battle group moves from Zeeland to Holland to again rip through their defense works.
The Hague is next, and although it is fortified slightly better (small keep, rather than minimal fortification), it takes no longer to breech the walls there than it does for Teufel (who has, admittedly, been working his siege longer) to knock down the defenses in embattled Flandres. Both weaken over the course of 1560, and by late-year, are ready to crumble.
The Dutch capture Cologne from us in November, 1560 (the 24th), and begin marching to the relief of their capitol, but they know before they set out that there’s no way they can arrive in time.
Less than a week later, the Dutch capitol is in our hands, as is the fate of their nation.
For his part, I thought Charles was lenient. He certainly was within his rights and power to annex them outright as his father had done to disobedient Kleves.
“Wither.” He told the Dutch Prince simply as he demanded Flandres, Zeeland, and Holland….75% of the Dutch kingdom for their disobedience, cowardice, and lack of honor. If that didn’t send out an unmistakable message, nothing did.
In December of 1560, we formally accept the Dutch surrender, adding three new provinces to our kingdom, ports, all! The news is greeted with excitement, but not nearly as much excitement as our Italian port generated, it being the first and all.
More significantly, however, was the acquisition of Dutch maps of the New World.
It seems that while we had been busy upholding the alliance and fighting our common enemies, the Dutch had occupied themselves with the exploration of new lands, and now we…the men of Lorraine, had access to their discoveries.
True, we were in no position to capitalize fully on this knowledge, but we could at least make a beginning, and further, we *finally* had a place to send the colonial assets we had acquired in previous years.
First though, we would need to give our adventurer and explorer something to do….namely, striking out into these new lands and exploring them for Lorraine.
It was beginning.
-=Vel=-
Punishing disobedience
In January 1559, we find ourselves with 175d in our treasury, and as we continue our troop buildup for our declaration against the Hollanders, we are the recipient of a most fortunate blessing! Another Explorer and Adventurer presents himself to the Court, and pledges his service to our cause! We incorporate his company of adventurous men into our armies, and continue to make preparations, regarding this as a good omen indeed, for the war ahead, and in April, we get still more good news! It seems that our recent acquisition of a port in our Italian holdings has generated significant enthusiasm for our navy, and Lorraine’s five largest mercantile companies each gifted a sleek trading ship, modified for war to our King. Lorraine now has a fleet presence, and the trappings of Empire continue to fall into place!
By June, thanks to continuous recruitment, the Army of Lorraine weighs in, in the neighborhood of 25,000 (19,336/5826/0), with an additional contingent of 5,000 infantry having been raised for Teufel (our new explorer), rounding out his command to an even 6,000.
Our enemy is, of course, the backstabbing folk of Holland, whom we embraced as brothers, and who later stained our honor with their cowardice.
They have some 12,000 men in their army, and we are not expecting any particular difficulties, so when war is declared (June 1, 1559), we do not call on our allies. The stain of honor is on us, not them, and we shall deal with the problem.
Decisively.
After the declaration, our main force marches on Zeeland, while the Adventurer Teufel leads his command to Flandres to tie up the province. The plan is to let him take what time he needs, occupying the Hollanders’ richest territory, while the main army rips up the minimal fortifications of our enemies, and that is exactly the way the war plays out.
On the very day that our forces arrived in Zeeland, we lay in a savage (some might say reckless, but with a 5:1 advantage, it was hardly that), and within two weeks, the matter is decided.
A terrified army of Dutchmen scampers ‘round our main battle force, none too eager to experience our wrath firsthand, and lays in a slow, methodical siege of Cologne.
So be it. Our main battle group moves from Zeeland to Holland to again rip through their defense works.
The Hague is next, and although it is fortified slightly better (small keep, rather than minimal fortification), it takes no longer to breech the walls there than it does for Teufel (who has, admittedly, been working his siege longer) to knock down the defenses in embattled Flandres. Both weaken over the course of 1560, and by late-year, are ready to crumble.
The Dutch capture Cologne from us in November, 1560 (the 24th), and begin marching to the relief of their capitol, but they know before they set out that there’s no way they can arrive in time.
Less than a week later, the Dutch capitol is in our hands, as is the fate of their nation.
For his part, I thought Charles was lenient. He certainly was within his rights and power to annex them outright as his father had done to disobedient Kleves.
“Wither.” He told the Dutch Prince simply as he demanded Flandres, Zeeland, and Holland….75% of the Dutch kingdom for their disobedience, cowardice, and lack of honor. If that didn’t send out an unmistakable message, nothing did.
In December of 1560, we formally accept the Dutch surrender, adding three new provinces to our kingdom, ports, all! The news is greeted with excitement, but not nearly as much excitement as our Italian port generated, it being the first and all.
More significantly, however, was the acquisition of Dutch maps of the New World.
It seems that while we had been busy upholding the alliance and fighting our common enemies, the Dutch had occupied themselves with the exploration of new lands, and now we…the men of Lorraine, had access to their discoveries.
True, we were in no position to capitalize fully on this knowledge, but we could at least make a beginning, and further, we *finally* had a place to send the colonial assets we had acquired in previous years.
First though, we would need to give our adventurer and explorer something to do….namely, striking out into these new lands and exploring them for Lorraine.
It was beginning.
-=Vel=-
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