I know its been done before. I don't really care. Austria is a great country to play and a wonderful one to do an AAR about. It has the greatest combinations of power and vulnerability, and a historical air about it only comparable to England and France. Truly, a blast. So, for my first EU II AAR as well as my first full Campaign (AoE), I decided upon Austria.
As a note, I've played many many years ahead of the story. My plan is to write this all down in decade long segments, so without further ado...
The 1490's. A quiet beginning.
You may notice from my notes below that I personally do not show up very prominently in any of them. So, I'll just have to tell you basically what I was doing. First of all, I was sending out merchants by the boatload. As many as I could get my hands on, and sending them about everywhere. Andalucia was particularly rich, so I was particularly active there, though I also sent merchants to Venice, Moscow, Thrace, and Flandres. I was also saving (and loaning) a lot of money, waiting for Infra 2 when I could build a Fine Arts Academy in Vienna. Finally, I was building up relations, most notably with Bohemia and Bavaria, two of my potential "early targets" for vassalization. In the end only one would go that route, but you'll see that for yourself later on. Mostly, I was just watching and waiting, getting used to Austria, and the relations of the countries around me. It was not particularly exciting, but it was extremely informative. Anyway, the notes themselves.
January 1492 was, of course, active. On the 2nd Granada was annexed to Spain. Who saw that coming? On that same day France declared war on Lorraine, bringing along its allies Savoy, the Pope, and Brittany. Further, Poland and Lithuania went to war with Pommern, whose alliance decided to abandon him. On the fifth the Turks went after Ragusa, and on the sixth Muscovy brought its allies Crimea, Ryazan, and Pskov into a war with the Tuetons and Prussia. Sweden separately decided to DW the Order on that same day. Coincidence? Obviously that last is the most important of the wars. The others I only note because they involve major countries, or at least those close to me. Suffice it to say that the major countries are not the only ones declaring petty wars. What's 1492 without them?
February saw Eire declare independance from England. I decide that apathy is indeed the best policy; however, it does break up the Spanish alliance, which can't be bad. The 26th of that month sees more interesting news as Brandenburg joins the Poland/Lithuania alliance. I'm not sure that I like this, but I'll see. I do, however, concentrate a little more closely on raising my relations with my neighbors. First and foremost, because I want an alliance, but I keep in mind the VP's one gets from being elected HRE. Spain certainly can do without.
Four days after Brandenburg joins the war with Pommern, Poland makes peace, recieving 200 ducats. Not bad. On the 1st of July, France annexes Lorraine. I'm not exactly shocked. On the 13th of August, Venice brings her allies Mantua and Milan to war with Ragusa and her new ally, Hungary. Now, there's nothing wrong with wanting to annex Ragusa, but Turkey is already seiging it. You can't hardly split one territory, now can you? Oh well, it should be an interesting conflict to watch.
On that same day Savoy declares war on Helvetia, bringing along France, the Pope, and Brittany. I hardly notice at the time, but this ends up being a very important development. Also, on the 5th of September, Lithuania declares war on the Tuetons, bringing along their respective alliances. I'm beginning to get worried; Poland and Lithuania are being far too adventurous for my tastes. I guess I'll just have to, um, do nothing. Cause that's what I do.
February of 1493 is even more interesting that February of 1492, from my perspective. On the fifth, Denmark militarily vassalizes Mecklenburg, which does not bode well for the tiny nation. I should note that I am not mentioning most wars, but will occassionally mention how one ends, if something important comes of it. Similarly, I may mention the start of a war but not its conclusion if it really isn't noteworthy.
Anyway, back to the story. On the 5th Modena calls Tuscany, Genoa, and the Knights to war against Milan, Mantua, and Venice. Suddenly northern Italy is aflame. I decide I probably should get involved if anything happends to Milan, otherwise I'll just enjoy the show.
On May 26th Spain and Portugal go to war with Navarra and Saxony. It lasts considerably longer than I expect it to, but the results are really rather predictable. On June 24th I am surprised to learn that Morocco has joined the French alliance. Well, I'm sure it has its reasons. On the 21st of August I get a new sovereign (Maximilian I), who is also voted Emperor. Party time!
On November 23rd the first result of the Italian war is that Modena is vassalized by Mantua. It only lasts about 18 months, but I'm sure it was good while it lasted. On December 6th the Ottomans annex Ragusa. I really don't have time to care about that when I hear that, on the 26th, Hungary has joined the Poland/Lithuania/Brandenburg alliance. What's a Hapsburg to do?
On March 1st of 1494 the Ottomans declare war on Dulkadir. Yet another brief war about which I really shouldn't care. March 7th sees Pskov declare war on Lithuania, meaning that the Russian, Polish, and Tuetonic alliances are now involved in a horrible military three-way. Is there any way for none of them to win?
January 6th of 1495 brings with it the annexation of Navarra by Spain. Oh well. On March 13th Modena joins the list of dead nations, annexed by Venice, though it will eventually return. And, strangely enough, October 1st sees the beginning of Hungarian dreams of a Baltic empire, when they annex Pskov. More for me to annex later.
On March 21st, 1496, Dulkadir ceases to exist. On June 5th Moldovia, deciding it really didn't deserve to be a country, declares war on Lithuania. Vienna commences work on a beautiful hearse to be delivered to their capital for the King's funeral. 1497 is another rather unexciting year. On Februrary 19th, Helvetia is vassalized by France. Well, at least they kept all their territory. On the 20th of June, Venice pays a token amount to get out of war with Hungary.
On June 9th of 1498, Tuscany vassalized Milan, but the war still rages in Italy, much to my delight. On October 1st, Eire decides that being vassalized by England isn't so bad. September the 1st of 1499 sees Sweden gaining the province of Memel and a Prussian vassal. Remember kids, its always good to attack someone when he's at war with several other countries that are stronger than him. Two weeks later, on the 14th, Savoy gains possession of Schwyz from Helvetia. Worse things could happen, I think.
This ends the 1490's. In retrospect, there are several things I could have done to have helped my country more, but I did do several things right, including the construction of a Fine Arts Academy (competed early in the 1500's), as well as the promotions I felt necessary, the beginnings of a trade empire, and diplomatic contact with many other countries. Sure, France hates me, but really, France hates everybody, and France is the only one, except for the Dutch states, and they really don't matter anyway, since they'll be gone well before they could grow dangerous to me.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any suggestions as to format, please feel free to give them. If you have any questions about what happened, I'll try to answer them. However, if you have suggestions as to gameplay, I don't think I'll be able to follow them, since I'm in the 1600's right now. I may post some screenshots eventually, but I only decided for sure to do this recently, so my earliest screenshots are from 1601. In any case, thanks.
As a note, I've played many many years ahead of the story. My plan is to write this all down in decade long segments, so without further ado...
The 1490's. A quiet beginning.
You may notice from my notes below that I personally do not show up very prominently in any of them. So, I'll just have to tell you basically what I was doing. First of all, I was sending out merchants by the boatload. As many as I could get my hands on, and sending them about everywhere. Andalucia was particularly rich, so I was particularly active there, though I also sent merchants to Venice, Moscow, Thrace, and Flandres. I was also saving (and loaning) a lot of money, waiting for Infra 2 when I could build a Fine Arts Academy in Vienna. Finally, I was building up relations, most notably with Bohemia and Bavaria, two of my potential "early targets" for vassalization. In the end only one would go that route, but you'll see that for yourself later on. Mostly, I was just watching and waiting, getting used to Austria, and the relations of the countries around me. It was not particularly exciting, but it was extremely informative. Anyway, the notes themselves.
January 1492 was, of course, active. On the 2nd Granada was annexed to Spain. Who saw that coming? On that same day France declared war on Lorraine, bringing along its allies Savoy, the Pope, and Brittany. Further, Poland and Lithuania went to war with Pommern, whose alliance decided to abandon him. On the fifth the Turks went after Ragusa, and on the sixth Muscovy brought its allies Crimea, Ryazan, and Pskov into a war with the Tuetons and Prussia. Sweden separately decided to DW the Order on that same day. Coincidence? Obviously that last is the most important of the wars. The others I only note because they involve major countries, or at least those close to me. Suffice it to say that the major countries are not the only ones declaring petty wars. What's 1492 without them?
February saw Eire declare independance from England. I decide that apathy is indeed the best policy; however, it does break up the Spanish alliance, which can't be bad. The 26th of that month sees more interesting news as Brandenburg joins the Poland/Lithuania alliance. I'm not sure that I like this, but I'll see. I do, however, concentrate a little more closely on raising my relations with my neighbors. First and foremost, because I want an alliance, but I keep in mind the VP's one gets from being elected HRE. Spain certainly can do without.
Four days after Brandenburg joins the war with Pommern, Poland makes peace, recieving 200 ducats. Not bad. On the 1st of July, France annexes Lorraine. I'm not exactly shocked. On the 13th of August, Venice brings her allies Mantua and Milan to war with Ragusa and her new ally, Hungary. Now, there's nothing wrong with wanting to annex Ragusa, but Turkey is already seiging it. You can't hardly split one territory, now can you? Oh well, it should be an interesting conflict to watch.
On that same day Savoy declares war on Helvetia, bringing along France, the Pope, and Brittany. I hardly notice at the time, but this ends up being a very important development. Also, on the 5th of September, Lithuania declares war on the Tuetons, bringing along their respective alliances. I'm beginning to get worried; Poland and Lithuania are being far too adventurous for my tastes. I guess I'll just have to, um, do nothing. Cause that's what I do.
February of 1493 is even more interesting that February of 1492, from my perspective. On the fifth, Denmark militarily vassalizes Mecklenburg, which does not bode well for the tiny nation. I should note that I am not mentioning most wars, but will occassionally mention how one ends, if something important comes of it. Similarly, I may mention the start of a war but not its conclusion if it really isn't noteworthy.
Anyway, back to the story. On the 5th Modena calls Tuscany, Genoa, and the Knights to war against Milan, Mantua, and Venice. Suddenly northern Italy is aflame. I decide I probably should get involved if anything happends to Milan, otherwise I'll just enjoy the show.
On May 26th Spain and Portugal go to war with Navarra and Saxony. It lasts considerably longer than I expect it to, but the results are really rather predictable. On June 24th I am surprised to learn that Morocco has joined the French alliance. Well, I'm sure it has its reasons. On the 21st of August I get a new sovereign (Maximilian I), who is also voted Emperor. Party time!
On November 23rd the first result of the Italian war is that Modena is vassalized by Mantua. It only lasts about 18 months, but I'm sure it was good while it lasted. On December 6th the Ottomans annex Ragusa. I really don't have time to care about that when I hear that, on the 26th, Hungary has joined the Poland/Lithuania/Brandenburg alliance. What's a Hapsburg to do?
On March 1st of 1494 the Ottomans declare war on Dulkadir. Yet another brief war about which I really shouldn't care. March 7th sees Pskov declare war on Lithuania, meaning that the Russian, Polish, and Tuetonic alliances are now involved in a horrible military three-way. Is there any way for none of them to win?
January 6th of 1495 brings with it the annexation of Navarra by Spain. Oh well. On March 13th Modena joins the list of dead nations, annexed by Venice, though it will eventually return. And, strangely enough, October 1st sees the beginning of Hungarian dreams of a Baltic empire, when they annex Pskov. More for me to annex later.
On March 21st, 1496, Dulkadir ceases to exist. On June 5th Moldovia, deciding it really didn't deserve to be a country, declares war on Lithuania. Vienna commences work on a beautiful hearse to be delivered to their capital for the King's funeral. 1497 is another rather unexciting year. On Februrary 19th, Helvetia is vassalized by France. Well, at least they kept all their territory. On the 20th of June, Venice pays a token amount to get out of war with Hungary.
On June 9th of 1498, Tuscany vassalized Milan, but the war still rages in Italy, much to my delight. On October 1st, Eire decides that being vassalized by England isn't so bad. September the 1st of 1499 sees Sweden gaining the province of Memel and a Prussian vassal. Remember kids, its always good to attack someone when he's at war with several other countries that are stronger than him. Two weeks later, on the 14th, Savoy gains possession of Schwyz from Helvetia. Worse things could happen, I think.
This ends the 1490's. In retrospect, there are several things I could have done to have helped my country more, but I did do several things right, including the construction of a Fine Arts Academy (competed early in the 1500's), as well as the promotions I felt necessary, the beginnings of a trade empire, and diplomatic contact with many other countries. Sure, France hates me, but really, France hates everybody, and France is the only one, except for the Dutch states, and they really don't matter anyway, since they'll be gone well before they could grow dangerous to me.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any suggestions as to format, please feel free to give them. If you have any questions about what happened, I'll try to answer them. However, if you have suggestions as to gameplay, I don't think I'll be able to follow them, since I'm in the 1600's right now. I may post some screenshots eventually, but I only decided for sure to do this recently, so my earliest screenshots are from 1601. In any case, thanks.
