Harleqin
Hippo Power
Update 1 Summer 1826
Non-Military
In the Americas things are more or less quiet, at least in the areas currently at peace. Most nations focus on attempting to improve their sorry economic state, although some nations do commit to a build-up of their armed forces.
In Europe things are mostly quiet, although all Hell does break lose in two traditional hotspots (see below). Spain, however is not one of them. In fact, things are so quiet in Spain that many start speculating that Joseph I has died. All that comes out of Valencia are instructions to build some schools so people can get wiser as well as a controversial order to the navy.
A large part of the navy is ordered to the Caribbean where it starts to stop any and all ships encountered in order to force them to pay taxes for sailing on their ocean. Not many ships have been stopped yet, but it is unlikely to be a popular decisions, particularly in London and Paris.
Naturally, the many people opposed to his leadership see this as a great opportunity and reports indicate that something might be about to happen. King Joseph will need to let the people know he is still very much alive and well or the people might sense weakness and rise up again.
By contrast, their Portuguese neighbours are busy bees, working particularly hard to stifle any unrest in Brazil that could see rebellion break out. A new project, Brazil Reforma, receives massive funding and the results are spectacular. New factories are built in several Brazilian provinces, creating jobs for the population which not increases their happiness, but also shows them that Portugal cares about them.
Expansions of the ports and increased support to Portuguese who wish to emigrate also have a minor effect. The most important part of the reforms, arguably, is a new system enabling all citizens to come see the local administration and register their complaints there. Initially viewed with suspicions, it catches on when people notice that those who do complain arent disappearing in mysterious ways,
In Africa, the Portuguese are less benevolent though as they forcibly seek to expand their colonies. Whilst they are only deploying minor forces, they have the advantage in their modern weapons and, particularly, their cannons. The cannons proved to be of little effect though after the initial moves as they were simply too difficult to transport in the terrain. Some expansion was accomplished, mainly in the Congo area where a division of the Kings finest were deployed.
The Austrians have a busy summer. First of all theres the massive celebrated royal marriage with Bavaria which sees the whole of the nation celebrate for a week. The celebrations are quite expensive, but the king has some ideas of how to pay for it. The first step deals with concluding trade agreements with Balochistan and the Maratha Empire which are easily accomplished. The second idea involves using the army (see below).
The royal marriage also seals an alliance with the Bavarians, but, busy as they are, the Austrians also conclude a formal alliance with Lombardy-Venetia, hoping the French are too busy domestically to notice. An attempt to ally with the Papal States is firmly declined however, as the Pope doesnt really have time to spend on the silly power games in Europe. He is more busy with a sect of heretics that has been uncovered in Tuscany.
In Russia the Tsar has awoken as from a nightmare. The conflict with the Decembrists have steeled him and he has found a new iron resolve to not let his power be threatened again.
One method of securing this is a set of political reforms. The changes are major and causes quite an uproar. A parliament called the Duma is set up consisting mainly of the rich and wealthy landowners in Russia, though nominally all the members are elected. Needless to say the serfs have no vote so their influence on who is elected is non-existent. The move is quite popular, but as Russia moves toward a republic it is a tough question if the Tsar will actually relinquish any power. For now the Duma has the ability to pass new laws and if these should conflict with the interests of the Tsar it could lead the country into a massive rebellion between those loyal to the aristocracy, those loyal to the Tsar and those poor unfortunates who will be caught in the middle.
For now the Tsar remains as both the head of state and the head of government, but can he hold back the tide of liberalism and democracy now that the gates have been opened?
Apart from the reforms which occupy a good deal of the peoples attention, the Tsar also seeks to strengthen his own position by unleashing his army upon an unsuspecting neighbour (see below).
In Denmark the King continues the mercantile expansion of his nation and seeks to not only use the power of the merchant fleet to increase the wealth of the nation, but also to secure the position of Denmark as the leading power in Scandinavia through this economic expansion.
To start with the King decides that more colonies are needed. Having possession of the Virgin Isles in the Caribbean and Trankebar in India is not enough, so an expedition is sent off to establish a foothold in Africa. This is accomplished with only minor difficulties at the Niger Delta.
The British king is sitting with a big map of his possession and looking at how much income he gets from the various areas. As he gets to Scotland he looks at the population figures and then looks at the taxes received from the area. They dont match. Possibly this is due to the traditional problem with getting money out of a Scot, but it just wont do. The area has potential, so some money is diverted to Glasgow to try and improve the industry there. Some progress is made, but not enough to make the king really pleased.
To cheer himself up he then looks at his Royal Navy and returns to the map figuring that with so many ships he should put them to good use. So he does. Ships are despatched to all corners of the world. Some carrying settlers, some carrying troops and others carrying stale water and rats. Trade posts are established, colonies are founded (often by dumping the settlers and the sailing away) and natives are annoyed. Just for good measure he also declares Terra Australis to be a dominion of the British Crown and telling all others to stay away.
This done he is a happy King. Well, sort of. He doesnt really like purple and the royal maps of India show a huge blob of purple. After being informed that it isnt an accident but lands that arent under his control, he decides to do something about it so he wont have to learn more geography than absolutely necessary (see below).
Military
The Spanish continue their struggle in Gran Granada by ferrying over troops to deal with the dissenters. Unfortunately the King doesnt really specify how many troops to ship over or anything about how they are to go about their business. This means that the local governors and the commanders of the troops argue for quite a while who is in charge and where the forces should be concentrated. A few pockets of rebellion are quelled, but most of the fighters get away and, due to the disagreements, the situation actually worsens in the south of the country which is now completely in the hands of the rebels.
(Spain: -1 division)
In India the British king prepared to end the annoyingly huge amount of purple by attacking the Maratha Empire. Just to not take any chances a huge naval detachment was despatched, easily outnumbering the Maratha fleet by more than two to one. Add in the much higher quality of the Royal Navy and this was even easier than shooting fish in a barrel. In other words, the Maratha fleet was completely annihilated with no losses for the English apart from an old frigate which was on its last mission anyway.
The ground attack was next. Again, the British were very unsporting. Not only were they attacking with superior troops, they also utilized their naval supremacy to dictate strike where they pleased. The initial attacks were a move south towards Delhi and west from their coastal possessions. What enemy troops were encountered were easily broken and soon after the only resistance came from the militia, which, to be honest, were even less of a threat. As the British armies advanced, the Maratha forces kept falling back toward Kolhapur.
It was then that the British showed how truly unsportsmanlike they are by landing troops in the west and sending forces towards Kolhapur and Rajkot. For this unfair attack opening the conflict on two fronts the British did encounter some trouble though. Not at Rajkot which fell soon enough, but the pride of the Maratha army was at Kolhapur and had done what they could to improve their defences expecting a British attack. British cannons did a lot of damage to the walls, but so far the capital is holding out and has stalled the British offensive, at least in that area.
(Maratha Empire: -entire navy, -3 divisions, +20 irregular divisions (remaining). Britain: -1 ship, -2 divisions (1 trained + 1 standard).
The main events, however, occurred in Eastern Europe. With the death of Napoleon the fledgling Polish nation had lost its protector and its three neighbours quickly agreed to repartion the nation and regain what had been taken from them.
The first move was made by the Austrian armies who crossed into Galicia attacking Cracow and Lublin. Heavily outnumbered the Poles put up a valiant resistance whilst waiting for reinforcements to arrive. This went best in Cracow as it was more defensible than Lublin though even there the Polish troops were eventually pushed out and sent reeling back towards Warsaw in order to regroup and link up with the divisions stationed there. At Lublin the forces surrendered the city almost immediately and pulled back behind the Vistula.
As the advance continued the Austrian troops eventually encountered heavy resistance not far from Warsaw. A bloody battle ended in a stalemate and the Austrian armies were forced to cease their advance.
As the Poles dug in even more it was expected that the war could drag on a bit, but a blow was then landed on them as the Russians also crossed the border. Having waited for some weeks to allow the Poles and Austrians to bloody each other, the Russian forces encountered only minimal resistance and made good progress, though the Polish border forces and irregulars caused significant damage.
With the war dragging on the Austrians and Russians started wondering what happened to the Prussian forces who were supposed to have joined the attack. Emissaries sent to Berlin were informed that the order had been given, but general von Klomp, who was in charge of the forces, denies having ever received any orders.
The situation looks bleak for the Polish. Surrounded, outnumbered and having lost most of their troops and territory, it does not appear that their nation will survive to see the new year.
(Poland: -5 divisions, Austria: -8 divisions, Russia: -3 divisions (Acceptable))
Notes:
Due to my new schedule, deadline will be Wednesday rather than Thursday from now on. Same time though.
Those nations who didnt send orders have had their eco banked. Next time I wont be so kind.
