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Haha.
"Shall be released as an independent state" - what did you do, in game, to get them so...upset?
Also - since there's no Anglo-Russian alliance to help, this war will not go well for the Greeks.
"Shall be released as an independent state" - what did you do, in game, to get them so...upset?
Also - since there's no Anglo-Russian alliance to help, this war will not go well for the Greeks.
!
Bah, if this wouldn't be happening if Levi Dinofs was still alive. He'd knock the head off Niklos' body with a trout, he would.
Ha! It is quite likely.
Ákos will certainly try.
What those guys are doing whit my favorite flag of all time
Lol!
I think it had something to do with letting Pirates infest Greece's shores during the war, marching thousands of young Greek men off to fight against Austria, or Persia, or Spain, or whoever else and getting them all killed. Or it could be that they're just bored, dunno.
WHAT don't they know they deserve their place under the Transilvanian boot heel.
It is a very comfortable boot for the wearer.
Aw man, why'd it have to be the Greeks? They've been getting a crappy deal for the last few centuries. Oh well, they picked the wrong oppressors to rebel against.
Hey Kapt, have you ever thought of modding the game's Transylvanian flag to something more... Grand?
Hey Kapt, have you ever thought of modding the game's Transylvanian flag to something more... Grand?
Hey what happened to the last loyallists?
It's on the shelf for now. I may pick it up later, but I started it when it seemed I had an abundance of time, and well, now I don't
Yeah, they've gotten a pretty short stick as of late, but maybe this'll actually be good for the Greek people? Who knows.
I actually think Transylvania's flag in its current state is probably one of the more epic flags in the entire game. I mean, the turul that represents the Magyar nobility, the Szekely Sun and Crescent Moon, and then the 7 towers that represent the 7 fortified Saxon cities of Transylvania (German name for Transylvania was 'Siebenbürgen' which means 'Seven Fortresses').
Compare that to Austria's flag, which was apparently thought up by some guy who got blood spilled on his shirt and breeches but not his belt.
Have you seen the Scandinavian flag? It makes me want to throw up it's like Denmarks flag execpt it's Neon Yellow and Red i think.
Have you seen the Scandinavian flag? It makes me want to throw up it's like Denmarks flag execpt it's Neon Yellow and Red i think.
You make me sad.
Niklos lazily hung his legs over the edge of the cliff and watched the Transylvanian army marching below. It was early January in 1599, the turn of the century. Normally it would be a year of celebrations, but there was dark business to attend to.
The Independence movement had spread like wildfire across Greece, and young Greek men previously employed as soldiers in Transylvania swarmed to Niklos, but even still there was not enough. Not enough to challenge the Emperor openly. Ákos was a brilliant commander and a deft strategist, but he lacked any experience in dealing with this kind of warfare, where his enemies refused to stand and fight and instead slipped away into the dark mountains of Pindus. So the Emperor marched his army around and arrested anyone they suspected of aiding the rebels, which admittedly just drove more their cause.
Niklos stretched, lifted himself to his feet, and picked his way across the rocky landscape to the camp he had with a hundred other rebels. Most of them were bandits and brigands that had hid in these mountains from the Transylvanian authorities, but now they had a new purpose and joined the Greek cause with glee. They were a valuable resource beside his Transylvanian trained Greek soldiers. Soon he would have the strength to strike openly.
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Ákos stared up at the craggy mountain peaks that dotted the Greek landscape and cursed.
“We can’t fight here, Emperor.”
“You don’t think I know that Leopold?”
“I just think we are going about this wrong, Emperor. We’re trying to find ourselves a battle where we can deploy our battalions, but they will never stand and fight in that manner.”
“So then what do you propose we do?” Ákos was not above asking for counsel from his military commanders, which was part of the reason why he eventually earned the nickname Ákos the Great.
“We take hunters and foresters from across the Balkans and Eastern Europe and send them to Greece. We can fight the Greeks on their own turf in the way they want and still win.”
“Hm.”
And so that’s what Ákos did do, except by the time they found enough willing foresters and hunters to do the job they wanted, Niklos had gathered enough like minded Greeks to be able to challenge Transylvania openly, and so Ákos got annoyed and ordered Marshal Leopold Dózsa east to take an army and invade Karaman while he took the Army de Ferenc to quash the rebellious Greeks.
Ákos’ plan was simple, to advance forward and push the rebels back into Southern Greece, where he could trap them between his army and Transylvania’s new navy, and crush them between the two. That was exactly what he did, advancing across Northern Greece in a flurry of activity. The Greeks put up an admirable resistance and delayed the Transylvanians, but it was a lopsided affair, and eventually Ákos had accomplished his objectives, and the Army de Ferenc and the ragtag bands of hunters and foresters in the mountains had forced the rebels into their last enclaves in Southern Greece. The Transylvanian army forced the newly raised and equipped Greek army into Volos, the city where the revolt had first sparked.
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Niklos looked out from the walls of Volos at the Transylvanian army assembled before him. It was a grand sight, with twinkling lights of campfires dancing across his vision in the dark night. It was April 26th, 1601 now, and Niklos had set Greece in flames for the past two years. There had been countless dead, and scores wounded in the fighting, but it all came down to this last battle. If he could hold the city and defeat the Emperor and his army, then there was a chance the Greeks could rally and push the Transylvanians out of Greece. A slim chance, but it was all that was left to him.
He surveyed the walls along the city, and noted with satisfaction the white and blue crossed flag that hung above the breaches the Transylvanian cannons had made in the Eastern wall, a wall that the Transylvanians themselves had built just a few decades earlier. That gave Niklos a slight chuckle, which was instantly soured as the campfires again caught his attention. There were at the very least 25,000 Transylvanian soldiers in the army that camped outside Volos, and not a single one was a Greek, the Emperor had made sure of that. Hungarians, Bulgars, Turks, Romanians, Lithuanians, Poles, Transylvanians, Czechs, and Croatians made up the army, and there were even some men who had been recruited in far off Persia among them; a mix of every nation within the Empire, except for Greece.
The rebellion had not gone as well as he could have expected. The Cretians and Cypriots had not helped him as he had hoped, but the Albanians had surprisingly allowed Greek irregulars to hide within their mountain ranges, a fact which Niklos knew the Emperor now knew, and he felt a pang of regret for the Albanians, as he knew that Ákos would come for them next.
One of Niklos’ captains climbed the stairs leading up to the walls and stood beside him.
“We can get you out of the city, sir.”
It seemed surreal to Niklos, even after 2 years of fighting. He had been nobody before, a son of some minor nobility in Greece, forced to pay homage to Transylvania, but now he had earned the respect of an entire nation, an entire people, and he would be damned if he betrayed them now in their hour of need.
“No.”
The captain nodded reluctantly in affirmation, and scuttled away when Niklos made it apparent he was not willing to spend time conversing through the night.
Niklos walked along the walls, encouraging the men, but always the campfires played across his vision, dancing the dance of war, mocking him. He could not hold the city, he knew that. He had barely 8,000 men inside the walls, and though some of them were trained infantry who had deserted from their Transylvanian commanded battalions, most were irregulars – bandits and cutthroats from the mountains across Greece that he had bonded to his service through their love of Greece.
Eventually he grew weary, and retired to his sleeping quarters in the city’s old keep. In the morning the attack would come, that he knew as well.
The morning light crossed over the horizon to the sight of a Transylvanian army already roused from sleep and ready for war. As Greek soldiers made their ways to the walls, wiping the sleep from their eyes, the Transylvanian cannon started their cannonade. It was the harsh drums of the symphony of death that was following quickly on its heels, and the call to arms rang out across Volos as weary Greeks readied themselves for the battle.
As the Transylvanian army made its way to the assault positions Emperor Ákos gave the order for the pipers of Carpathia to play the army onwards, and the shreek of bagpipes pierced the air and filled the defending Greeks with dread. At the forefront of the advancing columns were the volunteers who would attack first into the three breaches made in the walls. They were armed with sturdy halberds and buffed and polished breastplates, but even the best armour in the world would not save them from the horrors that waited in the breaches.
The attack on the breaches were massive, but in truth that attack was not what Ákos believed would succeed. In the dead of night he had sent 500 men to circle around the forests outside of Volos and hide near the western wall of the city, and as the assault on the breaches took place they crept forward and threw grappling hooks to the tops of the walls. They wore no armour, and did not carry the heavy muskets that had been recently issued to Transylvania’s soldiers, only a single sword. They climbed as the defenders attention was caught by the army attacking the breaches.
As the defenders poured musket fire and cut down with pikes on the first of the men inside the breaches, the small force climbed up the walls and cut down the guards before they could raise the alarm. They split into two groups and made their way to the northern and southern walls, safe from the main Greek force that was holding the eastern wall and its breaches.
Outside the northern and southern walls waited 4,000 Transylvanian cavalry, armed with lances and swords, which had orders to charge the moment the gates opened for them.
Finally, as the first assault on the breaches were beaten back, the church bells of Volos took on a frantic tone – the warning that enemies were within the walls, and the Greek army was thrown into a flurry of activity as men rushed to the other walls. The first of the group that was heading to the Northern gate was caught as 400 Greeks blocked the way forward and more came from behind, but they went down fighting, still trying to force their way through the defenders and open the gate.
The second group fared only slightly better, as 300 Greeks formed in front of the gate to defend it. They were heavily armed, with muskets, pikes, and armour, but there was nothing for it, and the group charged. They had no weapons but their swords, but these they used with terrible skill against the Greek defenders. The musket fire cut down the first wave, but others climbed over the bodies of their comrades and attacked. Pikes and swords met in the street of Volos, and the fury of the battle was too much for the Greeks who were being cut down despite their superior numbers. The Greeks broke and ran, leaving barely two dozen Transylvanian soldiers standing, only two who were uninjured.
The men needed to be quick, and put all their effort into opening the heavy Southern gate of Volos, disregarding the Greeks that had regrouped and were charging at them to stop them from completing their task. The gate swung open painfully slowly, and the only recognition of the fulfillment of their duty the surviving Transylvanians heard before they were cut down by the Greeks was a single trumpet call that pierced the air – the Transylvanian 12th hussars was charging.
The Greeks had no idea there were horsemen outside, and so figured they had enough time to close the gate, but quickly enough the unmistakable thunder of hooves carried over to the group of Greeks who were attempting to close the gate, who suddenly realized there was no way they had enough to close the gate in time and so did the only thing that was prudent – run.
As the Transylvanian cavalry flooded into the city the Kolokotronis flag over the Southern wall was dropped and replaced with the flag of the Empire, signaling the beginning of the second assault on the breaches by half the army, while the other circled around to the South and made their way through the recently opened gate. The first had been beaten back with horrid casualties, but the Greek defense was crumbling, and a hard shove against it was all that was needed now.
General András Elek leads the second assault on the breaches of Volos, April 27th, 1601
Ákos’ estimate of the Greek defenses was correct, and as Transylvanian infantry flooded into the city through the Southern wall, the defenders on the breaches at the eastern wall fled against the second assault. The Transylvanian army poured over Volos like a flood, rooting the defenders out of their hiding places, and capturing the ones the soldiers believed could be held for ransom. It was in that way that Niklos Kolokotronis was captured by a Transylvanian sergeant and brought to Volos’ old keep, where Ákos met with him while Volos was given to the victors.
Ákos waved the guards away after they had cut Niklos’ bonds and made an exaggerated display of turning his back to the man whose army the Transylvanians had just beaten into a bloody pulp.
“Your revolt has not gone so well as you had hoped, I would assume.”
“If the only reason you brought me here is to gloat you may as well just kill me now, because I refuse to beg or squabble for my life.”
Ákos turned back to the fire eyed Greek with a look of mock shock on his face, “Kill you? To be quite honest the thought never even crossed my mind,” Ákos clapped his hands together and one of the Imperial Guard entered bearing a sheet of parchment with the Imperial seal branded in bright red wax at the top.
“I’m not actually going to kill you. In truth the only blood I wished spilled is the enemies of Transylvania, and like it or not that does not include you, at least not anymore. I actually wish you to help me, in a sort of roundabout way.”
“And why would I help you?”
“Because in helping me, you get what you wanted. Not all of what you wanted, but in a way this revolt may actually be viewed as a victory in the eyes of the Greeks, despite…” Ákos waved his hands towards the window slit which looked down on the city of Volos, “…what the evidence might show at this very moment.”
Niklos’ interest was piqued, but he refused to let his face show his curiosity to the Transylvanian monarch.
“And how exactly is that supposed to happen?”
Ákos smiled, for he knew that what he proposed was something that Niklos could hardly refuse, given his current position.
“I have a rather grand building in Constantinople that we’ve been rebuilding for years now, and it’s finally finished. It’s the Sacrum Palatium, or the old Imperial seat of government of the Byzantines, and I’ve thought long and hard over what to do with the thing – I can’t move my government there, of course, since we are the Transylvanian Empire after all, but I can have another part of the government there if I wish.”
“What seat of government?” Niklos’ tone betrayed just a little too much of his interest, and he chided himself for it.
“Hm. I can’t quite think of a proper name, but we’ll settle for the Internal Government. It will house representatives from all the nations and peoples included within the Empire, and focus on the issues that concern the different provinces and cultures. The crown will of course have the authority to overturn any decisions it makes if they interfere with the crown’s duties or obligations, and the provincial government will have no hand whatsoever in managing the army or foreign affairs, but it will be able to exercise some authority and have to power to prevent this sort of thing. In essence it is something I want so as to stop the Empire from having to fight against its citizens ever again.”
“And how does this involve me?”
“Simple, really. I want you to be the representative of the Greek people.”
Niklos was flabbergasted. For two years he had roused the Greek people to arms against the Transylvanians, and now the Emperor himself was willing to give him this position; to essentially pardon him?
“Why?”
“Because, it allows me to do two things I’ve been meaning to for a while now – douse these flames you’ve cast all about Greece, and set up a seat of government for dealing with internal quabbles. I could kill you and then stamp out the resistance in Greece with pikes and blades, but this way is easier. So do you accept or no?”
It was hardly much of a choice for Niklos. On one hand he had a title, and the influence and power to make sure his people were not ill treated, and the other death and the assurance that more blood would follow even after he rested in his grave (if he was even given that honour). Ákos pushed the sheet of parchment and a quill towards him, which Niklos signed.
“I do.”
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Been Following this for a long time. I love the aar, I cant beleve I have not posted earlier! But I do not get this last seen. Is Greece going to become a independent state, or a province of the empire?
Ah, here we are. Some good old Transylvanian- What's this? Internal Government? Rebel Negotiation?
GET OUT
GET OUT
Glad to see a new face! Even happier that you enjoy the aar.Greece remains part of the Empire, it simply now has representatives to enact legislation for its people's benefit.
Eep!
Basically what I was getting at was that Transylvania is sort of a young country still, and had to have quite a bloodthirsty mindset in order to get where it is, but now that it has power and wealth it has sort of grown as a country and is kinda going through an enlightenment period.
Still bloodshed, just less against its own people and more against other states
You cannot be serious.
KILL THE BETRAYERS OF GOD, EMPEROR AND HOLY TRANSYLVANIA!!!
KILL THE BETRAYERS OF GOD, EMPEROR AND HOLY TRANSYLVANIA!!!
Basically what I was getting at was that Transylvania is sort of a young country still, and had to have quite a bloodthirsty mindset in order to get where it is, but now that it has power and wealth it has sort of grown as a country and is kinda going through an enlightenment period.
Still bloodshed, just less against its own people and more against other states
Are you saying Transilvania is going through pubirty?
Ah, a feudal parliament of some sort?
Nice Austrian Succession war pic, the officer with the polearms and all
Great assault description, had me riveted the entire time.
Nice Austrian Succession war pic, the officer with the polearms and all
Great assault description, had me riveted the entire time.
