The World at Large

Dawn breaks on July 1st, and people around the world begin another normal day. History has been easy on the masses. At the dawn of civilization, 8 areas settled. Rome, Paris, Berlin, Cairo, Beijing, Carthage, Lisbon, and Aksum. These peoples settled to begin their Civilizations. Culture, Agriculture, Ideals, and Religion were the basis of the next 4000 years. Military Civilizations emerged, as well as peaceful. In 700AD, Rome had grown to the largest Civilization in the known world. Their armies were larger than their neighbors, and Leaders had their eye's on Empire... Roman Legions marched out of Antium and crossed the Ethiopian borders. Within a month, the Ethiopians surrendered two major cities, Amara and Harer, to the Roman Commander Heltastii.

Ever since then, the Civilizations have grown and so have their militaries. This is where our story starts.

In the east, the large nation by the name of France, under the current leadership of King Napoleon, the political leaders had been considering taking military action on their western neighbor, China. The North-Eastern Chinese lands around the cities of Qingdao, Lhasa, and Chongqing, had vast deposits of Iron in the hills surrounding them. Napoleon met with his Military Adviser, Jacque of Orleans. The meeting lasted long into the late hours of July 1st. The next morning, at noon, the French Monarch gave the order to his commanders to move West with their armies.

The army in Strasbourg mobilized and moved westward, as did the army stationed in Chartres. The two armies arrived at the Chinese border around 11pm, and crossed, thus causing the first war the continent had seen since the time of the Roman-Ethiopian war.



The Strasbourg Army moved quickly to lay siege to Lhasa. At the same time, The Chartres Army laid siege to Qingdao. There was a reward from the King himself to the Commander of the Army to topple the first Chinese City. The Army to receive this reward, was The Chartres Army. After 11 days of Siege, the Chinese decided to ride out and meet the attackers. The battle was quick and decisive, with French Longbowmen fortified on the hills, the Chinese force was severely weakened before charging the French infantry lines. The French flag was hoisted in the square of Qingdao on July 13, 1523. The siege of Lhasa was not as quick. After 2 weeks of bombardment, it seemed to Commander Charles of Orleans, that the Chinese wouldn't surrender easily. He sent a messenger from his camp en route to Nantes, to ask for reinforcements to be sent from Nantes to support his siege. Count Robert of Nantes accepted. He and his armies left Nantes on July 17 heading for Lhasa. But, to Commander Charles' surprise, two days after sending his messenger, the Chinese surrendered the city due to starvation. Upon hearing of the fall of Lhasa, Count Robert decided to continue marching his armies forward, and to assault the capital, Beijing. As Robert marched on, the Commander of The Army of Chartres, Commander Michelle de Chartres, rapidly assaulted Tianjin. The city had no walls, so one day after arriving 6 miles from the city, and setting up camp, the French army attacked. The mass of the French infantry marched on the north eastern side of the city. The Chinese quickly took defensive positioning facing the French. But not realizing that earlier that morning, French Knights had marched around the city behind the hills, until reaching the North-western point of the city. Within minutes of the Infantry engagement, the Knights quickly routed the Chinese, and took the city. The Chinese realized, defeat was imminent. They retreated their armies from Chongqing to Beijing, and armed the civilians with spears to meet the French. Count Robert set up camp 2 miles from Beijing, atop a large hill, on September 10. He sent a messenger to King Qin Shi Huang, with an ultimatum of unconditional surrender of the city of Beijing, 600 Hostages, and the removal of all Chinese forces from the surrounding area. If the King did not accept, Robert promised that Beijing will fall, and the French armies would not stop there. They would then march West and conquer the remaining Chinese lands. King Qin Shi Huang had 3 days to reply... He accepted.

The French conquest of China was complete on September 13, 1523. China surrendered Beijing, and moved the King to his new palace in the new capital of Guiyang. Borders were redrawn at a meeting between the two Monarchs in Beijing on September 27.



Conclusion of Post #1
To be Continued...

So, which one are you?

Great story, btw.

I was playing as France.

So here is the story great work and nice maps you have done, hope we see more soon!

How did you create those maps?

I have a good story to write too. But my game computer was busted...

Perhaps when I have free time...

the maps were done in Photoshop, i just outlined a screenshot for the land

Nice job Boxer! You took quite a bit of land there in just one war.I can't wait for an update.

January 14, 1539

King Joao II was holding the monthly Council of Lisbon, a political council where everything from religious holidays to the building of a new fort are discussed. The council was debating about their eastern border tensions with Germany. Recently a series of skirmishes had taken place between small groups of armed infantry along the borders, causing political distrust between the two countries. Portugal was much larger than Germany, twice the land mass, and twice the size of Military might. Duke Miguel of Coimbra, recently chosen Military Adviser to the King, stood up and began his speech.
"Your Majesty, recent acts against the holy Kingdom of Portugal by Germany are deliberate! Of course our enemies would want our mighty King to think of these disputes as non-existent. But I for one will not fall for this foul trickery! The German dogs are sly and untruthful to our Mighty King. They refuse to pay tribute, and what do we do? We twiddle our thumbs... I ask of you dear King, make war on the German people, crush them with one mighty blow of Portuguese might..."
The council came to a dead silence. The sound of a door creaked in the echoes.
"Yes.. War ! War !" A voice cried out of the council.

Not knowing, the council was being watched by a German spy. He quickly relayed his information to King Bismarck in Berlin. Upon receiving this, Bismarck mobilized every infantryman in the Kingdom. War was upon them, and so were the odds of victory. German generals in Berlin came to Bismarck with a strategy of submissiveness and decisive counter-attack. They proposed that of Hamburg, Bonn, and Essen should keep to the city walls, to rebuff the armies of Portugal. While at the same time, German ships would load the Army of Berlin, and set sail for the Portuguese city of Viseu. They would lay in wait until the message was received that the Portuguese armies had laid siege to the German cities, then they would sail around the eastern cape, and land on the beaches, taking the city in a day. At the same time, the Army of Mainz would march on Beja, a strategic Portuguese City, which held the main Portuguese land trade routes, and vast amounts of Silver.

The Portuguese Military was slow to mobilize, thinking that the Germans had no idea what the future held. On January 20, King Joao II sent a messenger to King Bismarck which stated:
"Dear Bismarck,
I regret to inform you that our two mighty nations have been plunged into a state a war. The German people present a threat to the Kingdom of Portugal, which I must consider. But mass populations do not have to feel the sword on their neck, there is a way to resolve this peacefully. If Germany will throw down their weapons, I promise you, no man-woman-or child will be touched, and you will still hold your throne. Just accept Portuguese Superiority and we will live in peace.
I hope to hear your eager reply
- King Joao II"

A reply was received by King Joao II on January 21, early in the morning while he was still asleep. King Bismarck had replied:
"You will hear my true reply today Joao. My reply shall come from the mouth of my Cannons."
And so, war was commenced

The Portuguese Armies crossed the Endurii River into German lands, quickly laying siege to Hamburg and Bonn. This was exactly what the Germans were waiting for. Operation Karlsruhe commenced.



Prince Adalbert, Commanding Naval General of the Berlin fleet gave the order to land the army on the Viseu beaches. Viseu fell within an hour, with only 200 Militiamen garrisoned inside the city, the Iron Cross flag was placed on the city walls at 6pm.

Around the same time, Duke Agustus Wilhelm marched his 2,250 men across the Ems River, and opened up bombardment on the city of Beja. Portuguese Infantrymen took to the walls, unleashing powerful blasts from the Cannons. Unfortunately for the Germans, the Portuguese had more modern cannons which could fire farther distances. Deciding not to lose his artillery, Wilhelm retreated. He came up with a brilliant plan of attack, he broke the infantry into three divisions. The first division, led by Captain Q. Lebund, would march his 600 riflemen around the western edge of the city, scaling down the hills reaching the lower city. The second division, led by Captain P. Albrecht, did the same but on the eastern edge of the city. The next morning the third division would commence artillery bombardment again on the main gate of the city. The pincer maneuver worked brilliantly. The Germans lit fire to the houses of the lower city as they killed hundreds of innocent civilians. A white flag was raised on top of the city Cathedral the next day.

King Joao II was astonished when he heard the news. Two Portuguese cities had fallen within three days of combat. He was infuriated, and sent his royal guard to arrest Duke Miguel, who was convicted and executed in the royal court the next day. Joao sent a messenger with a treaty to King Bismarck. Bismarck's generals informed him, that accepting the cease fire would be best for them at the moment. Recent harvests were scarce due to a drought in the southern region of the country, which meant that the armies wouldn't be able to continue a campaign into the Portuguese heartland.

Bismarck and Joao met in Viseu on January 26. Bismarck demanded that the cities of Viseu and Beja stay under German control. Joao was hesitant, but with no ready military backbone, he accepted these additional terms to the treaty, including:
- German Control of Viseu + Beja
- Demilitarization of the surrounding areas of the Endurii River.
- Closing of 12 Munitions factories in Serpa, Lagos, Evora, Coimbra, and Lisbon.

But doing so, Portugal was cut in half, the economy severed, refuges fleeing from Beja and Viseu now were a burden to Lisbon. The Kingdom of Portugal had begun its downward spiral, which looked impossible to recover from.



Conclusion of Part 2
To be Continued...

nice update! I think it's always nice when somobody writes about the other events in the world too and not just your own country. Bismarck really crushed the Portugese there

Thanks, yeh when the AI's declared war i thought Germany was gonna be destroyed outright, but when they came to peace, i traded for a map and found that Germany took two cities... i was pretty awe struck myself haha

Nice maps, very original, something tells me it's not going so well for Ethiopia.

@BoxerGen;

Very nice work, I really like those maps, and mention of world events. You took your time and developed a nice, detailed story, which was fun to read. And 180 degress from my sparse tale, LMAO!

I especially liked the "closing on the munitions factories", keep up the awesome work.

Those maps have inspired me....must admit!