The war was drawing to a close. It had engulfed Europe in flames for half a decade, but the fires were dying down and order was slowly being restored. Through the sacrifice and bravery of Transylvania’s soldiers North Africa had been secured by the Empire, and the Spanish nation had suffered a mighty blow. Lithuania had been crushed, surrounded by hostile powers – Austria, Scandinavia, Georgia, and Transylvania. France and Austria had battled bitterly for control over Northern Italy, but both sides had simply bloodied one another so badly that neither had the manpower to secure any gains they made. The Persian alliance, despite starting off the war on a good foot by taking control over Tranyslvania’s eastern provinces had been pushed by the Army de Mihály back into their territory.
The biggest losers of the war were the many minor nations that had swept in, hoping to cash in on the devastation of the major powers of Europe. Bavaria had been almost destroyed utterly by Austria, as had Bohemia and the various other German minors that had entered into the war. Holland, who before had held the title of Holy Roman Empire, had been devastated in their war against France, and were forced to cede most of the gains they had made in the past two centuries – Vlaanderen, Ansbach, and Nice.
For a brief moment in the North African campaign in 1577 it had seemed that Spain might be able to ferry enough troops over to retain their control of the region, but the Transylvanian navy, led now by a fiery eyed Admiral Varga, had finally mustered the courage to challenge Spain upon the seas of the Mediterranean. It had been a costly naval engagement in the Barbary Coast, but at the end Spain’s fleet had taken too large a blow to recover in time to save North Africa.
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The Battle of the Barbary Coast, August 17th, 1577
Spain would hold out stubbornly against Transylvania’s demands for nearly a year, but as its allies folded to peace terms all around it, the enormous pressure placed upon it by the peasantry and bourgeoise classes would force the Spanish court’s hand. The First World war would end on July 1st of 1579, four years after the first spark over Lithuania’s subjugation of the last Rus nation had started it.
The main winners in the war were Austria and Transylvania. The lands of Bavaria and Bohemia had been added to the growing Austrian Reich, and the German people had held out against the might of France while still managing to punish the Lithuanians; while the Transylvanians had smashed aside the armies of Spain and clearly asserted their dominance over the Eastern Mediterranean and the lands in the Levant.
In the end, Lithuania would cede some of its lands to Austria and Scandinavia, release the nation of Moldavia from its clutches, and cede the province of Kharkov to Transylvania. Spain would cede Judea, Aleppo, and Angora to the ever growing Transylvanian Empire. France, despite fighting on the losing side of the First World War, would emerge stronger than ever, gaining the lands that the Dutch had held, while losing nothing to the Austrians. Spain’s lands in the Levant, now isolated from Spain, saw new nationalist and independence rebellions rise up, funded by the recently victorious Transylvania.
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It is hard to truly understand the full scope of effects the First World War had upon Europe and the world at large. It was a devastating war in terms of casualties, with hundreds of thousands dying in the cold Russian winters of Lithuania and Scandinavia, and hundreds of thousands more dying in the oppressive heat of North Africa. World War One clearly illustrated the need to Europe’s leading powers of the necessity of having a professional standing army large enough to handle to sheer immensity of wars such as the one that had just taken place.
There was also a growing movement for industrialization within these growing empires. Wars like these had needed an immense number of resources, and had brought even the most powerful economies of Europe to their knees trying to supply, feed, and transport the vast quantities of soldiers and materials that had been needed.
It also saw the rise in importance of the common soldier, those who in previous era had been regarded as simple minded barbarians whose only duty in life was to die in a manner that accomplished something for the state. Instead soldiers were being seen in a new light, especially in Transylvania – they were the chosen men of the Empire; its champions that would lead the people to a new era of greatness.
A veteran’s home is built in Koloszvár, July, 1577
The old world was slowly changing, gradual, bit by slow bit; eroding in the face of this new frightening reality – that of blood, work, and tears. The unification of the Italian peninsula was stark evidence of this rapidly changing world, where even the Pope was not safe from the machinations of human ambition. Some nations would never truly recover from the First World War, Spain itself only barely managing to claw away from the rebellions and immense social reforms half a century later...
(I apologize for the lack of game screenshots and whatnot, but Fraps decided that instead of that, what I really wanted was a screenshot of a pitch black screen, so the treaties and battles are all from memory since I'm actually way ahead of this point in the game)
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Painting of the Dutch burning of English ships during the Second Anglo-Dutch War by Jan van Leyden More information can be found here.