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I really liked these few last chapters - despite the Napoleonic imagery - and even though you designated Scania as Swedish (I mean, come on, it took four wars and severe military rule before the Scanians even began to think that Sweden was a pretty cool place) the recent Danish update kinda brought a nice feeling into the body of yours truly.

Take your time, real life is pretty important (even if a fine AAR might slow down :))
 
You're right on both counts! I'm going to switch 'feudalism' with 'serfdom' in the last chapter. The righteous emancipatory spirit of Posadofsky and Karl X, while anachronistic, is going to prompt the Bohemian/Austrian emperors to declaring that Beckist thought is now a dangerous idea, and the idea of 'localist' government is going to start democratic movements in some countries and HUGE amounts of 'enlightened absolutisms" in others
 
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Ah! it DOES seem like there is room for 'choice' right now. As you can see, I have 4 idea slots left. Out of the ideas I'd like to take, the highest priority ones are

Bureaucracy (+10% tax, -5% govt tech, -10% advisor costs, -0.03 inflation, boosts the bureaucracy and a bunch of other small bonii)
Bill of Rights (-5 RR, lower stab, faster coring)
Elite Regiments (+25% discipline, lower WE)
Glorious Arms (+25% manpower/land limits, higher tradition, lower WE)
Liberte Egalite Fraternite (+1 heretic/heathen tolerance, higher production and taxes, lower stability)

One of these things is not like the other! I will let you guys decide the order that I'll take these ideas in, and which one I'm not going to take
 
Bureaucracy would be my first pick, unless you've got more money than you know what to do with and you've always had at least the Capable Government modifier. Other than that, I can't think of what you really need. Elite Regiments I guess, then LEF, then Bill of Rights. Manpower and force limits won't be as much of a problem in the late game, so I wouldn't bother with Glorious Arms. Unit upkeep would also start getting really high if you took that one.
 
Firstly, thanks for the response!

Secondly, yeah, I started the game with Good Government and there it has stayed, though I have had pretty good ADM kings. I can't really think of what I need either--perhaps the biggest benefit that the military ideas I've taken have given me is the war exhaustion decrease, which means that I've never gone past 6-7 WE and that even 6-7 WE is done in a year or two. But the more non-economic ideas I take the harder it will be to expand my military--I'm 5th in Europe for army size but like 12th for economy
 
Elite Regiments is absolutely gamechanging so I would always choose that as soon as it's available. As for which idea to ignore, I'd go for Bill of Rights. You don't need the extra admin capacity and its benefits are negligible unless you have a lot of rebellious provinces (though the faster coring is nice that's more or less the only benefit you're getting!)

With that in mind I'd go for Regiments => Bureaucracy => Glorious Arms => LEF (swap the last two round if you feel you need the income bonus more than the military one, but by that point I would expect your economy to be significantly stronger)
 
Light in the Darkness: The German Enlightenment during the 50 Years War

part one: From Amsterdam to Leipzig

It is a sad development that the Aufklarung, the German Enlightenment, came into being so much earlier than her sisters in France, Italy, Britain and Scandinavia. While the English, Enlightenment, for instance, occurred without the threat of war, Prussian intellectuals and students lived in constant fear of inter-statal violence. Considering the Prussian Enlightenment in light of the fact that it emerged during the most violent stages of the 50 Years War, and considering that it was born from two massive refugee migrations, the focus on the idea of an "Enlightened Despotism" then makes sense.

While it's hard to point to a specific event and say that it was the start of the Aufklarung, historians generally agree that it started in the 1650s, roughly around the time that Leo von Bimback was made president of the University of Leipzig.

To talk about the University of Leipzig, I first must discuss the religious situation in the Netherlands. The (now 7) United Provinces of the Netherlands, when she declared independence from the Holy Roman Empire, was a religiously split country--split between the Pietist (Brentan) and more populated East, and the Catholic Southwest. Immediately after the 2nd War of Danish Aggression, the Netherlands was embroiled in a religious war between Catholics and Absolutists. The war went one way to another: Catholic Republicans (in the style of the old Italian Merchant Republics) and Absolutist Despotists shed the blood of thousands. By the time that the country had stabilized under a democratic Reformist government, approximately 20% of the Dutch population had left for either the colonies, England, or Germany.

The Dutch War of Religion had twin effects: firstly, Dutch refugees of Absolutist, Pietist, and Catholic denomination swamp Germany, and (most importantly) many of these refugees moved together, regardless of religion--which showed the increasing amount of, if not secularism, tolerance in Northern Germany. The second was that the conversion of the United Provinces to Reformism, along with the 2nd and 3rd Danish Wars of Aggression, meant that there was only two Catholic countries to the north of the Rhine: Thuringia and Saxony.

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Religious map of Northern Europe. Lubeck and Luneburg are devolved provinces of the Danish federation

The whole Saxon area was an interesting microcosm of the Holy Roman Empire--Thuringia, the Catholic center of Scholasticism in Germany, was also the rival of the (also Catholic) Saxony. Because of this dynamic, the Duke of Thuringia was generally more tolerant of ethnically Saxon protestants as a way to undermine the rule of the Duke of Saxony. Pietism emerged out of this international dynamic, as a way to integrate the “strongest aspects of the Beckist, Brentan, and Catholic Churches and to create a new Universal Church.” It held that, rather than the “Divinely Arbitrary” god of Absolutism or the “Invisible Hand” of the Beckist God (which required human beings to act ‘divinely’ in order to bring about a Kingdom of Heaven on Earth), the doctrine of Pietism held that God was a Divine Lawmaker, who set the simple rules upon which the whole world spun.

Such an idea would be impossible without the advancements made in Physics, Biology, Anthropology, and Philosophy. Hobbes’ ‘state of nature’, while a pessimistic idea, introduced the concept that humans are influenced by the same urges during all points in time, which was expanded by John Locke’s “natural law”, which essentially said that human beings had a ‘nature’, similar to how physical objects had a ‘nature’. Peter Watson, in The German Genius, also says that Pietism was a product of the odd time “between Doubt and Darwin”, when there was no longer the absolute belief in God but there was nothing to replace Him either.

These forces were very much in play in Leipzig, and this rebellion against the hegemony of God was furthered by the Duke of Thuringia’s rebellion against the Hegemony of the Great Powers. Rather than fighting the militaristic Austria or Prussia on the battlefield, Duke Leopold II sought to maintain a “splendid neutrality”, acting as a go-between for the 3 denominations. While Leopold caught a great deal of flak from the Papacy, as one of the only 4 large Catholic powers in Central Europe, Leopold’s polices were viewed as ‘acceptable heresy’, especially after the Netherlands declared themselves ‘removed from the Empire’. The large number of Catholic, Beckist, and Brentan Dutchmen in Thuringia was now the Catholic world’s only real connection to the rising power in the Low lands.

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The end of the Dutch government as a bulwark of Catholicism in Northern Germany made the Duchy of Thuringia even more important

Into this stage stepped Leo von Bimback. An Anhalter Pietist who had studied theology under Johann Arndt and philosophy under Posadofsky, he was the beginning of a line of thinking that only came to fruition at the end of the 50 Years War. Secularism was starting to become a force within Saxony and Prussia before the War, but the denominational conflict in Germany reignited religious beliefs to the degree that Bimbackan thought on religion was only rediscovered in the 18th century.

However, during this very short period between the Dutch War of Religion and the 50 Years War proper (Note: I’ve skipped ahead a bit, I’ll cover the 3rd Polish Partition and 3rd Danish War of Aggression in the next section) when Northern Europeans were getting tired of religious conflict, combined with the slow seeping of Pietist thought into Thuringian institutions, led to the most prominent Pietist scholar of the age into a position as head of the University of Liepzig. His convenient denominational identity was not the only reason he was appointed, however. As the royal tutor in Hanover, von Bimback had pioneered the use of seminar as a method of teaching.

Before the invention of the seminar, schooling was considered a way to pass knowledge down to priests and lawyers, not a way to create new knowledge. The reconquest of Greek philosophy brought several Europeans to an amazing realization: if the Greeks were able to create thought of such quantity and quality just by talking to each other, then it would actually be possible for the Europeans to learn at the rate of the Greeks if they were to use similar methods.

This was a huge step forward from the two earlier concepts of thought,firstly the Middle Ages conception of new discoveries as divinely inspired and out of the hands of Men, and the Renaissance idea of Greek being a peak, a Golden Age of thought. Because of this ‘golden cage of the golden age’, it was impossible for Europeans to conceive of themselves as surpassing the Classical Masters.

However, in von Bimback’s classes, a student would be required to write a research paper on the subject (starting the idea of original research in academia), which would then be argued within the class. The student with the best paper of the year would be given a small stipend and would be published in a local journal (This is a real thing! Man I wish I was a white male aristocrat in Enlightenment Europe!). These courses drew a large deal of new students, primarily Dutch refugees with money to spend and a want to be integrated into their new country. Von Zeithen, traveling from Berlin to lecture in a course on Jewish philosophy, was astonished to encounter several Dutch students in a theology seminar, “fighting with their words in a most polite fashion over the same subject which their countrymen were fighting with war in a most civil fashion”. The University of Leipzig created the kind of melting pot from which the German Enlightenment would burst forth.
 
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Update on where the game is:

My god, Denmark is really just going on their own right now. It's insane how far south they are now. Also Bohemia started off the 30 years war but because they're a really minor power I managed to get by with a lot--I took less than I could have because god damnit, the 30 Years War event chain is supposed to be rough on everyone, not me rolling a 3rd rate power and converting nearly every minor to Protestantism
 
Pure Hierarchy: The Prussian Enlightenment

The Saxon Enlightenment may have been a step ahead of the Prussian one, but both came from remarkably similar events: wide scale refugee movements of middle class men and women into the country. In the case of Saxony, it was a historical fluke; there was little else besides their tolerance that would indicate that they would receive a mass of people like that. The migration into the Grand Duchy of Posen, however, was very much the fault of Prussia.

"By the 1650s," to quote Henry Kissinger in Diplomacy, "there were two constants in Europe: Denmark's continued conquests in Northwestern Germany, and the continued partitions of the former Korona of Poland." Because of the religious nature of the Danish Wars of Aggression, from the 2nd War of Danish Aggression on they are considered parts of the 50 Years War, 'named skirmishes before the nameless massacres of the Imperial Wars'. Denmark, unlike District Saxony (Going to start calling the region of Thuringia, Saxony, and Anhalt this, as they're all innovative, tolerant realms) and Prussia, was still a highly religiously motivated society, and under the increasingly belligerent Karl X and Frederich Posadofsky (who sympathized with the clerical serfs more than any other group and felt that 'serfdom under Catholic law is naught but a series of abominations') fought with the goal of annexing the land of the German Catholic Bishoprics.

It may seem odd that Ferdinand II, an effete, pacifistic and pro-imperial aristocrat, would support the bellicose "Bauernschaft" (peasant's rule, a derogatory term created by Grand Duke of Austria) in Denmark, and many satirists played with the idea of the King as an uncultured peasant in regal clothing. The fact of the matter is that after the reform of the Doppelkorps Ferdinand had left nearly all foreign matters to the new Diplomatic corps, led by Johann von Below. Ferdinand, on the other hand, spent nearly all of his time in Neukoln, 'cultivating German genius'.

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The palace at Neukoln was so grandiose by the end of Ferdinand II's rule that it was used as the inspiration for the French palace at Versailles

Thus, most of the policies that Ferdinand had a hand in were cultural policies. Even the Army Reform Act of 1655, which mandated that Polish aristocrats in the Grand Duchy of Posen join the hussar corps and which was written and passed entirely by Ferdinand (at the anger of Armee and Directory Bureaucrats who now had to pay 6,000 new cavalrymen) was written with the effort of integrating the Polish nobility into Prussia via the army--a historically Eastern tradition of reform through the military.

However, Ferdinand II's interest in military and foreign affairs waxed and waned. Every decade he would make a new effort to 'bring the army to heel', increasing discipline amongst soldiers, bringing in new requirements for soldiery, (1660 brought the final new requirement, requiring literate officers, which marked Prussia's slow shift back to quality soldiers from large numbers of soldiers, a shift that happened more than a century earlier, while simultaneously showing the amazing amount of education already present in Prussia), and reorganizing armies into corps of 3 regiments each.

The last portion of the military reform of 1655 was, perhaps, the most important--the role of pikemen, now greatly reduced in proportion to musketeers, was combined with the musketeer--though the bayonet had been invented 50 years earlier, the Prussian army was the first to deploy in drills using them en masse. Beyond that, Prussian cavalry was changed in order to bring them closer to the far more deadly tactics of the Polish cavalry.

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The Military Reform Act of 1655, which included the recruiting of 1,000 Polish aristocrats from each province in the Grand Duchy of Posen

However, the truth of the matter was that Ferdinand II didn't have enough practical experience in the field to do any more than rely on his generals to implement his reforms. This meant that though the reforms which increased the deadliness of the soldiers were used, Ferdinand's proposed reforms to have the Armee be governed by 'universal laws of war' were never able to succeed, because looting both benefited the Generals economically and made their troops more loyal. However, in 1656 the 'despicable' actions of several generals (most notably von Stille) led to Ferdinand issuing their resignations early. This is important in view of the next two rebellions, which nearly broke Prussia apart but which ended up propelling her into the Aufklarung.

The seeds of rebellion started in neighboring Poland. Torn apart by the 4th Partition, which created a dynamic where more Poles were under foreign than domestic rule, Lithuanian rebels sacked the city of Vilno. Led by the Lithuanian nobleman Casimir Gostautai, a peasant levy supported by noble musketeers and hussars stormed Warsaw. Speaking in front of the assemblies of Poland, Lithuania, and the Ukraine, Casimir announced the Despotate of Poland--a new and Lithuanian-dominated kingdom, based in Vilno.

Stating that "Jewish weakness has corrupted our beautiful realm for too long", Casimir's first act was the expelling of all Jews in Poland. While this was a popular act which added to the new Despotate's legitimacy, it left nearly 70,000 men and women without homes and property, and the capital flight which accompanied the expelling of the Polish Jewry enfeebled the nation for years to come.

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The state of the Polish Kingdom, 1657, and the expelling of the Jews. note: when Poland did this herself, I reloaded so that I could show the decision, which goes on for farrr longer

Out of the 70,000 expelled Polish Jews, 50,000 of them escaped to the neighboring Prussia--a sad fact, lamented many Jewish poets, that "their burglar had become their host". The most jarring of the migrations was the migration of 8,00 Jews into the city of Koenigsburg. With that migration, Ostpreussen was thrust yet again into the economic framework of Prussia as a center for linguistics, philosophy, and general scholarship. Neumark, a poor, rural area between the estates of Ostpommern and the city of Berlin, had its first group of Jews enter the province as moneylenders and provincial bureaucrats--the Congregation of Neumark would soon be known for its civil service to the Kingdom.

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I got a stab hit from taking in such a large number of Jews. At this point my stability is +1, I figured I'd have a calm couple of years no big deal

However, the migrations, supported by the Prussian government, mainly in Posen, were highly controversial. This was partially because of the hugely rural nature of the Grand Duchy--though Poland, during her Golden Age, had built textile manufacturies all along the Vistula, but they had gone unmanned for decades. The migration of Jews (some 10,000) into the area increased the profitability of the Duchy but also created a general outcry--Why hadn't the nominally independent Grand Duchy been given a say in this?

Similar complaints were aired in Silesia, except the Silesian Estate allowed for a far more organized request--a request for real, not nominal, independence from the Kingdom of Prussia under a similar system Magdeburg had a century before. When Ferdinand rebuffed the request, nationalists rose up in riots all along the military district, which led to similar assaults on authority in Posen.

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And now I have -2 stability and I had to use 'extreme measures'

On the face of it, the rebellions were rebellions for more local government, similar to the local governance that the states in the federation of Denmark enjoyed. However, the Freigruppe, influenced by Posadofsky's recent philosophizing on local governance, backed the right of Silesians and Posenians to govern themselves locally, and Ferdinand himself was of two minds--he didn't want to put down yet another revolt and the accusations that his rule was unjust hit him hard.

Which leads us to one of the oddest intellectual events in history. With fires in the streets of Posen, Breslaw, and Neukyau, Ferdinand II announced that there would be an essay contest on the most pressing issue of the Prussian Kingdom: "Is localized rule preferable to the rule of an absolutist king?"

That he chose to present the policy question to the whole of the Kingdom, and in the written word, enraged the Royal Bureaucracy to no end. "While the citizens in the district and duchy die at the hands of brigands, our king asks us to write prose?" The image of Ferdinand-as-Nero, writing an essay while Berlin burns, has survived through history.

However, there were more reasons that the bureaucracy was angered by the 'contest'--with nearly all of Prussia's philosopher's allied with the Posenians/Silesians, the bureaucrats who would normally be the ones deciding whether or not to put down a revolt were being asked to compete with Prussia's most clever men in order to stop the deaths of hundreds. Their anger and need became more pronounced when the rebels at Kalisz overwhelmed the local militia and started murdering local Jews by the hundred.

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The pogrom of Kalisz put a great deal of fear into the newly immigrated Prussian Jewry, who were by and large making plans for leaving the Grand Duchy by the end of 1653

Their hope came to one man--Helmut von Zeithen, once the unofficial head of the philosopher's faction in the courts, had had a definite falling out with the freigruppe during the recent months. While the freigruppe railed against the injustice of forcing a Jewish minority on the Posenians and argued that the ongoing pogrom in Kalisz 'was, if overly extreme, a just reaction to the unjust placement of Jewish refugees in the Grand Duchy of Posen by the state' (this quote came from Johann von Memel, the new head of the philosopher's faction).

The bureaucrats feared, by the end of 1656, that the revolts would succeed, and that the Grand Duchy of Posen and the Military District of Silesia would become independent entities, a success 'greater than any foreign duke or king could hope for' (Frederich von Below). von Zeithen feared that these newly independent entities would reinstate serfdom (the primary cause of the Silesian nobility) and restrict the rights of Polish Jews (the primary cause of the Posenian nobility). Thus he spent nearly a month without any sleep, writing with his feet in cold water in order to keep him awake, and on the January of 1657, he handed in a 200 page philosophical treatise.

On the rule of Kings was the point at which von Ziethen separated from the beliefs of Posadofsky, and, not coincidentally, it is the work by which he is most remembered, "a German Leviathan". "While it may seem good and fair to a Silesian or Posenian to claim that local, democratic rule is more just, the Jews know the truth--that the rule of local leaders and the rule of the mob is held back only by the restraint of those people, and that any second rule of the people could become rule of the pogrom." He then used the ancient example of Athens: "The trial of Socrates showed the true spirit of democracy: that when enough of the rabble yell loud enough, the law is permitted to die. Under a monarch, especially an Enlightened Monarch, the law is enforced ad infinitum. He then expands on the idea of enlightened monarchies: "It is said that in the lands of the far east, the Emperor, supported by a colossal royal bureaucracy which is chosen on merit, is so great that he is viewed to have a Heavenly Mandate, and is so powerful that he is able to rule without recourse to local princes. I see no reason why a similar form of governance could not be adopted within Europe."

Though much of the text is a defense of the status quo of absolutist rule, the concept of an enlightened despot who rests on a meritocratic bureaucracy was a new idea, and the reform of the bureaucracy was the crux of von Zeithen's argument. To this end he suggested that the Grand Duke of Posen be made into a military governor like the governor of Silesia, and that the rebels in Silesia and Posen be put down. These two things were swiftly done by the convinced Ferdinand, who, newly confident in his right to rule, put down the nationalists in Silesia and exiled the philosopher's faction from his courts. von Zeithen himself handed in a letter of resignation to the King, asking for the right to create a College similar to the University of Leipzig in the King's estate in Ostpommern. Ferdinand accepted this request, even going to far as to enroll Crown Prince Henry in it.

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The College of Governance at Ostpommern was the first of its kind, a school devoted to teaching the skills of government to up and coming aristocrats and bureaucrats

The College at Ostpommern was originally designed along the same lines of the University at Leipzig--a seminar-centric school devoted to philosophy and linguistics. However, Helmut von Zeithen was a very different man than Leo von Bimback. Rather than a philosopher of ethics, von Zeithen was very much a political philosopher and eventually most of the discussions came to questions of governance--what is the best way that a prince may govern? Is local rule better than the rule of Kings? What is the role of the bureaucracy, and for that matter, the army? This discussion was made even more rabid after the school gained some fame, after which the royal families of Pomerania, Mecklemburg, Anhalt and Denmark enrolled in the school.

Soon realizing the potential niche that a school of governance could provide, von Zeithen changed the nature of the College at Ostpommern away from philosophy towards government. The first class, required by all students, was Posadofsyk's 'On the Nature of Law' and Machiavelli's Il Principe, which gave future kings and bureaucrats the framework of moral but practical law.

The College of Governance also sought to end the situation that would be popularly called "Ferdinand's Court"--that those with the least knowledge of the events truly occurring were also the best able to elucidate their opinions. By creating a trained and knowledgeable Bureaucracy, and including writing classes (and considering the seminar's focus on creating better arguments), von Zeithen hoped that after the death of Ferdinand, the country would no longer have a rule of fools.

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The College at Ostpommern was aimed at creating better leaders but also better bureaucrats, producing a 'pure hierarchy'. The eventual result of the College was to mix Ferdinand's courtly factions into one heterogeneous group

This process, from a university of philosophy to a college of governance, took roughly half a decade, but when the University of Ostpommern was rechristened the College of Governance at Ostpommern, this marked a shift in Prussian education. Previously, through the influence of the Berlin Renaissance and the printing press, Prussia was a highly educated country but also a highly self educated country, with people learning how to read by reading broadsheets rather than enrolling in universities.

The Aufklarung changed this--schooling would now become a mark of prestige in Prussia. The creation of the College at Ostpommern was soon followed with two more Universities instituted in the Mark over the next 2 years (I wouldn't normally be able to get any manufacturies because the Textile mills in the G.D. of Posen bumped up the costs. I just made it that whenever I got to 2,500,000 thalers I would cheat myself the ducats to buy a university and spend the rest on naval techs which are worthless to me because I don't plan on having a navy). This trend towards formal schooling would become enshrined in 1673, the Advancement of Education Act, one of Ferdinand's last acts and his greatest legacy.
 
And now, some sad news. The summer is drawing to a close--in two weeks I will be in Washington DC looking at grad schools, the week after I will be embarking on my senior year in college! Though some updates might get through my senior project/applying for grad school, after next week there may be a very long hiatus. I hope to write a couple of speedy entries detailing the 4th Danish War of Aggression and the first of the Imperial Wars (IE the bulk of the wars in the 50 Years War) before the end of next week, which will then end on a good note.

I'm now faced with a far more important decision than any of the ones I've made so far--do I go into grad for Security Studies, Comparative Government, or International Relations?
 
With the end of the week, I'm announcing an official hiatus. I'll likely be able to write again in december. Thanks to all of you for reading and writing back, it's been a great journey and it's not over yet!
 
I do hope this gets continued when you have some more free time, then. You got a good balance of gameplay along with a rich history-book style, something a lot of AAR authors don't do :)
 
Sorry to hear you're on hiatus; I guess academia is somewhat more important than alt-history. :D

I'm always happy to see a good-sized Netherlands show up in an MMU game; Emperors in my games never have too many issues suppressing the Dutch revolts.

Still leery of this Poland-partitioning as it will inevitably lead to a dangerous "Oh, hello Bear" situation in the long run. Normally I like Russia and its massive armies to be someone else's problem for as long as possible! :D
 
A Shadow over Europe: the beginning of the Imperial Period of the 50 Years War

Bohemia was in some respects an odd place for the 50 Years War to occur. For most of the 16th century she hadn't seen the sectarian violence that had ravaged the rest of Europe--she had large Hussite and Beckist minorities, but they were given roughly equal rights with the exception of not being allowed to serve in the army. Beckist nobles had served on the Bohemian court, and A succession of Protestant Kings had ruled the country for a two decade period.

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August Jagiellon and his ally, the Arch-Duke of Austria Frederich IX Hapsburg were results of the collassal shift in education encouraged by the Counter-Reformation era Papacy

However, the forced conversion of Bohemia by the Prussian sword during the Silesian War ended the fragile peace in Bohemia. With the death of the sickly Jan Přemyslid, the Catholic August Jagellion was elected to the throne. August was an oddity in this period, in that he had spent his early years learning in a Monastery learning theology. Though this style of upbringing was still in vogue (especially in Eastern Europe) a fully religious and old style education for nobles had been on the downturn since the ascension of Cicero Hohenzollern. Aspiring rulers had had a largely liberal arts education since, learning music and the basics of natural philosophy. Micheal Sheehan argues that this had a large effect on the governing and foreign policies of these rulers, for the aesthetics of balance which the Rennaisance and Enlightenment possessed was carried into proto-Balance of Power policies. This would be furthered by the discoveries of Newtonian physics, but even before this, the idea that the world was a series of balances was in vogue and this idea carried into the beginnings of political realism by giving it a grounding in the 'natural world'. In short, the rulers who were now being taught at Ostpommern and in Versailles were being taught secular concepts and their foreign policy was a largely secular one. This seemed, for a period of time, to be the way that the world was going.

The secularizing trend was encouraged by the English Popes who ruled the Papacy through the early 17th century. England had no interest in pursuing a foreign policy in conjunction with the Catholic powers because this would strengthen her colonial rivals, Spain and Portugal. English money flowed into Italy for decades in order to keep the Bishops happy with what the Iberians called her "Anti-Catholic" policies. Beyond this Enlightenment thought had traveled quickly from Saxony through Holland and England and into the Catholic Church. The institution of the Order of Jesu was originally an attempt by the British Pope Clement VIII to copy the success of the Beckist orders in converting and keeping the faith via education.

The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1643 changed this. A torrent of new revenue flowed through the Spanish crown to the Papacy, and not only was Spain able to elect a new Pope, but through the influence of Urban IX she called the 16th Council, in which the rules involving benefices were made far more strict. This greatly decreased the influence of the moderate Catholic faction, and thrust the Church deep into the Counter-Reformation.

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Pope Urban IX changed the Catholic Church into a wholly different institution, and it would not be until the 19th century that it would be reformed again

The shift of the Church, and specifically of the Monasteries and the Jesuits, towards the hardliner faction meant that with the exception of the English, the generation of Catholic leaders who were raised in the 1630s were taught in a completely different way than the Protestant ones. This wasn't a problem until the 1640s and 50s, when these rulers rose to the throne. The zeal that this new generation of Kings had at displacing, murdering, and exiling their own population in order to achieve religious homogeneity would have been inconceivable two decades before, and indeed was inconceivable to the moderate Catholics and Beckists. August was no different from Frederich in Austria or the Spanish or Portugese Hapsburgs. Being taught in a thoroughly Medieval fashion, he was raised from childhood with the goal of turning back the clock on the Reformation, and even of the Renaissance. His overstated notions of Imperial authority explain to a large extent the arrogant and headstrong way in which he acted afterwards.

Similar to the rise of the Polish Despotate and indeed of many of the new regimes throughout Europe, August started his rule with the destruction of the rivaling sects within his country. The uprooting of the historic German Beckist minority as well as the Ghettos in Prague and Moravia sent many skilled men and women north to Prussia (got a 5 star banker) and, beyond this, broke the Catholic world in two. The purging of the Bohemian Protestants was so savage that it prompted shock and horror from the moderate faction, leading the Duke of Thuringia and the King of England to rescind their alliances with the Emperor.

August was not done, however. Immediately after this, he announced to the Riechstag that he wanted to form an Imperial Army, comprised of Catholics, in order to protect "the sanctity of the Catholic Bretheren". Considering the actions of the Bohemian army within its own borders, this was a deeply unpopular move, and one which was rejected by the now mostly Protestant and Reformist Reichstag. He responded to this setback in the infamous Denouncement of Prague. In it he called the Danish annexation of the Westphalian Bishoprics a breach of international law, and used his authority as the Emperor and the permission given to him by Urban X to call for "Catholics to rise against your false kings!" With this, the Prusso-Danish alliance had had enough. Troops who had been mobilized late in 1659 were ready by the Spring of 1660, and with this mobilization the Long War as it was popularly called at the time restarted.

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The events leading up to the 50 Years War proper

I'M BACK
 
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Your return is a welcome one! I look forward to the next grand war for dominance in the HRE.
 
Aw hells yeah, a new update! As usual, quite excellent!

I have a question about some of the trends in the AAR: My understanding is that during the 17th and 18th centuries the Habsburg Emperors used minor German statelets as a counterweight against the larger ones. Since Bohemia's been emperor for about as much as Austria, and since the Prussians have absorbed these small territories rather more effectively than OTL, what kind of effect will this have on German nationalism? Will there be anything like German dualism if Prussia clearly discredits the old HRE institutions a century early, and no clear defender of the old system emerges?
 
Great to see you back with us, and it is quite welcome to see an update to this AAR!

Ah, so the War of Religion is beginning to rear it's ugly head on the continent of Europe. Prussia has gone through worse wars in the past, and with a wide alliance of Protestant powers on her side, those damn Catholics shall be forced to recognize the greatness of Prussia's strength!
 
@ everyone--Thanks!
@Ripheus--I've been playing it by the ear, but we have been seeing the 18th century order a century early, so if the cards play themselves out we may see a Germany. Nationalism is a kind of anachronistic force in this time period though.
@Nacbeast--It's the 50 Years War for a reason...the Bohemian Emperor's weakness is obvious but as I said the Austrian arch-duke was taught by the very same men...
@Wombats--The war will be epic. Yeah, Bohemia's in for a curb stomping but there's going to be a huge unintended consequence out of this war.