Alternate History NESes; Spout some ideas!
- Thread starter Amenhotep7
- Start date
das
Regeneration In Process
OOC: Here's something for you, Reno - I intend to take it to 1800. How's that? Should I do so?
IC:
The year is 1598. The country is Russia. Fyodor, the last member of the Moscovitan Rurikovich Dynasty, an idiot to boot, dies, and power now belongs to Boris Godunov de facto as well as de jure. Godunov rules well, but like so many great people, he is disliked by those inferior to him. Seven years earlier, Fyodor's little brother died in tragic circumstances whilst playing with sharp objects. But not all people buy that explanation. Gregoriy Bogdanovich Otrepyev, a monk discontent with the expulsion of his trouble-making Romanov friends, declares himself Prince Dimitriy and needless to say gets the Shove Out Of The Country. He however finds help amongst the discontent and amongst the Poles, and invades Russia in 1604. He is defeated time and again, but through skilled intrigue finds cossack support, and gets lucky - Godunov dies of old age (yeah, right...) in 1605, his son is murdered, and the government army defects - Godunov made many enemies in his modernization and westernization schemes. "Dimitriy" soon enters Moscow triumphant...
That was but the beginning of the Time of Troubles. In 1606, Dimitriy was assassinated by the boyars, and Vasily Shuysky rises to power. Soon enough, however, peasant rebellions begun, and ANOTHER False Dimitry, also with Polish support, charged into the fray. Assisted by Romanovs as well as Poles and Cossacks, he soon conquered numerous chunks of Russia, forcing Shuysky to ally with the Swedes - Poland's enemies. The Poles, angered by this, marched to Moscow; along the way, they found out that Shuysky was killed by the boyars, who however still were menaced by Dimitriy and asked Poland to take full control. Dimitriy proceeded to be assassinated by his supporters, and unlimited chaos ensued. Sigismund of Poland helped stop it by demanding PERSONAL, UNLIMITED, PERPETUAL control of Russia.
The boyars didn't like that, but they have by then disintigrated into factions. Patriarch Hermogen forms the first anti-Polish coalition, which lingers on until 1611 (slight change from OTL, where they collapsed almost immediately), but it is succeeded by the movemment of Pozharkiy and Minin. The Polish armies by then were in Moscow, but they were weakened, and in an epic battle, Russian forces reclaimed Moscow. That was the turning point in Russo-Polish wars - before this, Poles always seemed to win, but now, at last, they faced defeat. Soon after, an assembly of the land is called, to elect a new Tsar. The Romanovs dominate the political scene, but they themselves had two candidates, Mikhail Romanov and Fyodor Romanov, also known as Philaret - the metropolitian of Rostov. Unlike in OTL, Philaret was not marred by collaboration with the Poles, and instead participated in forcing the first anti-Polish coalition and in keeping it together. As the elder of the two, and Mikhail's father in fact, it is decided that Philaret will be the new Tsar of all the Rus. Soon, however, problems appear - he is also elected as the Patriarch of Moscow, partially because of skill and partially because of lack of other notable candidates. This eventually begins the new Romanov tradition - the Patriarchate and the Monarchy, the Religion and the State, are combined. That is an unusual situation for an Orthodox country... but Russia already was in an unusual situation.
Tsar Fyodor III proved much more competent then his idiotic namesake. A capable politician, he reformed church administration, established many libraries and undertook social reforms, stabilizing peasant farmers, reforming the tax structure and finally reorganizing the army, learning the lessons gained in the war with Poland. Meanwhile, he also increased ties with Europe. The Thirty Years War raged, and Russia supplied grain and whatnot to the Protestants. However, it did so in lesser amounts then in OTL, and it did not start wars with Poland just yet. The Poles meanwhile were undergoing a political crisis, as the king querreled with the schlacht. Finally, Wladyslaw decided that he had had it. Seeking to undermine his Swedish relatives once and for all, in 1630 he shouted down the nobles and sided with the clergy. "You want trade after things settle down? Well, trade will be easier to gain when Germany is Catholic!" That wasn't all that persuasive, but the prospects of finally solidifying control over East Prussia were something worth some fighting for, at least. It also gave the cossacks something to do aside from rebelling. A fleet was assembled, and in 1632 Poland pledged to stand by the Habsburgs in the Thirty Years War. Polish navy engaged and defeated the Swedish one at Danzig. Polish armies invaded Livonia and Brandenburg. Gustavus Adolphus was not amused. Soon after, Philaret suggested that Russia could join into the war on the Protestant side if Sweden were to return Ingria, "borrowed" during the Time of Troubles, and to recognize any gains Russia would make against Poland outside of the Baltic Coast. Gustavus Adolphus considered his situation... and agreed. Ingria was next to useless to him anyway.
The game was on. Russia and Poland have entered the Thirty Years War...
IC:
The year is 1598. The country is Russia. Fyodor, the last member of the Moscovitan Rurikovich Dynasty, an idiot to boot, dies, and power now belongs to Boris Godunov de facto as well as de jure. Godunov rules well, but like so many great people, he is disliked by those inferior to him. Seven years earlier, Fyodor's little brother died in tragic circumstances whilst playing with sharp objects. But not all people buy that explanation. Gregoriy Bogdanovich Otrepyev, a monk discontent with the expulsion of his trouble-making Romanov friends, declares himself Prince Dimitriy and needless to say gets the Shove Out Of The Country. He however finds help amongst the discontent and amongst the Poles, and invades Russia in 1604. He is defeated time and again, but through skilled intrigue finds cossack support, and gets lucky - Godunov dies of old age (yeah, right...) in 1605, his son is murdered, and the government army defects - Godunov made many enemies in his modernization and westernization schemes. "Dimitriy" soon enters Moscow triumphant...
That was but the beginning of the Time of Troubles. In 1606, Dimitriy was assassinated by the boyars, and Vasily Shuysky rises to power. Soon enough, however, peasant rebellions begun, and ANOTHER False Dimitry, also with Polish support, charged into the fray. Assisted by Romanovs as well as Poles and Cossacks, he soon conquered numerous chunks of Russia, forcing Shuysky to ally with the Swedes - Poland's enemies. The Poles, angered by this, marched to Moscow; along the way, they found out that Shuysky was killed by the boyars, who however still were menaced by Dimitriy and asked Poland to take full control. Dimitriy proceeded to be assassinated by his supporters, and unlimited chaos ensued. Sigismund of Poland helped stop it by demanding PERSONAL, UNLIMITED, PERPETUAL control of Russia.
The boyars didn't like that, but they have by then disintigrated into factions. Patriarch Hermogen forms the first anti-Polish coalition, which lingers on until 1611 (slight change from OTL, where they collapsed almost immediately), but it is succeeded by the movemment of Pozharkiy and Minin. The Polish armies by then were in Moscow, but they were weakened, and in an epic battle, Russian forces reclaimed Moscow. That was the turning point in Russo-Polish wars - before this, Poles always seemed to win, but now, at last, they faced defeat. Soon after, an assembly of the land is called, to elect a new Tsar. The Romanovs dominate the political scene, but they themselves had two candidates, Mikhail Romanov and Fyodor Romanov, also known as Philaret - the metropolitian of Rostov. Unlike in OTL, Philaret was not marred by collaboration with the Poles, and instead participated in forcing the first anti-Polish coalition and in keeping it together. As the elder of the two, and Mikhail's father in fact, it is decided that Philaret will be the new Tsar of all the Rus. Soon, however, problems appear - he is also elected as the Patriarch of Moscow, partially because of skill and partially because of lack of other notable candidates. This eventually begins the new Romanov tradition - the Patriarchate and the Monarchy, the Religion and the State, are combined. That is an unusual situation for an Orthodox country... but Russia already was in an unusual situation.
Tsar Fyodor III proved much more competent then his idiotic namesake. A capable politician, he reformed church administration, established many libraries and undertook social reforms, stabilizing peasant farmers, reforming the tax structure and finally reorganizing the army, learning the lessons gained in the war with Poland. Meanwhile, he also increased ties with Europe. The Thirty Years War raged, and Russia supplied grain and whatnot to the Protestants. However, it did so in lesser amounts then in OTL, and it did not start wars with Poland just yet. The Poles meanwhile were undergoing a political crisis, as the king querreled with the schlacht. Finally, Wladyslaw decided that he had had it. Seeking to undermine his Swedish relatives once and for all, in 1630 he shouted down the nobles and sided with the clergy. "You want trade after things settle down? Well, trade will be easier to gain when Germany is Catholic!" That wasn't all that persuasive, but the prospects of finally solidifying control over East Prussia were something worth some fighting for, at least. It also gave the cossacks something to do aside from rebelling. A fleet was assembled, and in 1632 Poland pledged to stand by the Habsburgs in the Thirty Years War. Polish navy engaged and defeated the Swedish one at Danzig. Polish armies invaded Livonia and Brandenburg. Gustavus Adolphus was not amused. Soon after, Philaret suggested that Russia could join into the war on the Protestant side if Sweden were to return Ingria, "borrowed" during the Time of Troubles, and to recognize any gains Russia would make against Poland outside of the Baltic Coast. Gustavus Adolphus considered his situation... and agreed. Ingria was next to useless to him anyway.
The game was on. Russia and Poland have entered the Thirty Years War...
das
Regeneration In Process
I SUMMON THEE, RENO (and anybody else for that matter), FROM THE DEPTHS OF FINLAND, because I really need to know if there is any interest. That said I'll probably continue this TL regardless. I've done some brainstorming... By 1800 AD, its rather likely that in my new TL the technology level will be roughly OTL 1815 whilst the political atmosphere will be more like OTL 1848. 
Do you want to mod such a NES, Reno?
Do you want to mod such a NES, Reno?
Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
Looking good, Herr Polarberum, continue the good work. And yes this is exactly what i want.
Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
That's the Finnish version of Gustav Vasa.
Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
Do it. This is too compeling not to continue.
das
Regeneration In Process
Yes, I realize that. Its just that its unlikely to be a coincidence. No, really.
Alright, I'm currently working on the ITNES update, but after that I'll write about the Thirty Years War. Incidentally, its rather likely that ITNES will soon have a favorable atmosphere for a certain rebellion on Crete. *hint hint*
Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
Any progress Herr Polarbear?
das
Regeneration In Process
Some progress done. Habsburgs are dooooooooooooooooooooomed.
Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
Hmm, sounds promising. What about Germany in General?
das
Regeneration In Process
Habsburgs survived, but lost much more then in OTL. Austria for once is just Austria, I decided that taking it away just like that would be against Gustavus' best judgement, and I didn't find anybody he could give it to so far. But it is ensured that they will lose it soon. Germany is still a patchwork of states, but now most of them are united in an alliance with each other and with Sweden. I have some plans for the future of this alliance...
Thirty Years War part is finished, albeit I was rushed at the end so I am not sure if its very good, I might change some details. Will begin work on the rest of 17th century later today.
Thirty Years War part is finished, albeit I was rushed at the end so I am not sure if its very good, I might change some details. Will begin work on the rest of 17th century later today.
das
Regeneration In Process
(OOC: Note, I forgot to mention - many butterflies attacked Poland, with Sigismund III dying in 1629 - the stress of an even worse war with Russia, combined with his OTL humiliating experience with Sweden, killed him three years earlier. Also, the reason Wladyslaw IV managed to actually talk the nobles into starting the war was, though I thought that was fairly obvious, that Philaret/Fyodor's more cautious foreign policy involved him NOT attacking Poland at the first hint of an opportunity like Mikhail did in OTL (admittedly, as per the advice of Philaret - but this is a rather different Philaret with some more military sense, see previous post), and thus the nobles being less reluctant to alocate war funds - they still weren't happy, though.)
June 1632. The Thirty Years War rages. The Swedish armies, undefeated on the field, are facing another problem - increasing reluctance of the German protestant nobles. The Corpus Evangelicorum, Gustavus Adolphus' brainchild, an alliance of Protestant German princes is hardly paying off - albeit the southern Protestant duchies, still threatened by the Habsburgs and their allies, did join it, the north is reluctant. The north, in fact, hates and fears Sweden just as much as they did Habsburgs when Wallenstein was surpreme there. Neither Brandenburg nor Saxony, the strongest Protestant powers, joined the Corpus. They sensed no threat.
In that way, Poland's entry into the war was in many respects a GOOD thing for Sweden. Brandenburg was invaded, Saxony threatened - and now, the north once more turned its eyes towards Gustavus, asking him to save them. Gustavus rubs his arms. That's more like it. Corpus Evangelicorum, after painful negotiations led by cancellor Oxenstierna (Gustavus was too busy turning around his armies to face the Polish threat), actually became what it was intended to be. True, not all the Protestant princes agreed to it - the northwestern ones still proctrastinated - but at least Saxony and Brandenburg, and the northeast, were in it now as well. Now things were getting better, and Gustavus, not dismayed by the surprisingly-fast fall of Riga and Memel to the Poles, moved northeast. In a close-ran battle, Wladyslaw IV was defeated badly at Luckenwald in late 1632, dying from a Swedish cannon ball, and his brother Jan II was elected by the Sejm. The Polish nobles wanted him to end the war, but made a bad choice - Jan managed to persuade them that to end the war without accepting humiliating terms, Poland needed to have a good bargaining position.
Mind it, Jan was no warmongerer. Most of the times. The thing about him was that he was a rather moody individual who often switched between wanting to be a soldier and being disgusted with war and wanting to be a Jesuit priest, for example. Still, for now at least, he was in the mood for war. And war there was - on many fronts. Whilst Talinn was still holding out against Polish forces and whilst the Poles were repulsed from Brandenburg, in the southeast a Cossack civil war begun and ended, with a pro-Russian faction triumphant. Said faction pledged loyalty to Tsar Fyodor, whilst the Crimean Tatars, sensing an opportunity, intensified raids into Ukraine. Russian forces, which undergone many reforms during the rule of Fyodor III (still rather sub-par, but marginally better then in OTL), besieged Smolensk and, being led by knyaz Mikhail personally, actually managed to - partially due to the help of the Russian population of the city, but mostly due to Polish distraction elsewhere - recapture the great fortress, restoring thusly all lands lost during the Time of Troubles to Russia. Polish forces inflicted many casualties on the Russian army and prevented further advance, but damage has been done.
Jan II quickly assessed the strategic situation, mused about becoming a Jesuit priest, mused about it again when he found out that the Austrians - in early 1633 - were utterly routed at Lutzen, and that Wallenstein himself was badly injured, dying a few days later. But he decided to give war a chance. On the sea, the Polish fleet continued winning skirmishes, but no decisive battle came. The Cossacks were besieging Kiev. Russians were marching to reinforce Talinn, whilst the larger Russian army slowly marched for Minsk. The Swedes were the largest threat, though. Already, their armies were threatening Poznan, and Gustavus Adolphus was sure to knock Poland out, now. Some Polish forces managed to defeat the Russians at Narva, and then also captured Talinn, but elsewhere, news were bad. All of Ukraine was up in flames, albeit in the west the Polish forces were holding out. A Russian army already reinforced the Cossacks, who in exchange for considerable autonomy agreed to give Fyodor entire Ukraine, and Kiev has fallen. But the decisive battle was fought elsewhere.
Leszno was a rather small city, but important in that a) it was an academic and textile production center and b) it was very close to Poznan, a great trade center and one of the most important Polish cities. It was only natural that Gustavus Adolphus would try to take Leszno and then Poznan - with the war at sea still stalemated, the only real way to knock Poland out fast was to striek for its very heartlands, an ambitious and daring plan but not much more ambitious and daring then Gustavus' little blitzkrieg in Germany. The problem was that Jan realized that Gustavus would not use Habsburg weakness to take Vienna but rather would try to crush Poland so that it, in turn, will not interrupt the final campaign against Austria. The campaign in Poland also involved some Brandenburgian troops under Swedish command, but the Saxons, again feeling themselves unthreatened, procrastinated. Oxenstierna's best efforts only barely kept the Corpus Evangelicorum together for now. Gustavus feared that soon, he might face betrayal. That, too, was an important consideration, and he wanted to destroy the Polish threat to disencourage that. Jan adopted some of Gustavus' combined arms ideas, but not all of them - there was no time for a full-scale reform. That was what doomed Poland. Still, Jan put up a good fight - or rather, Koniecpolski, perhaps the only man who ever defeated Gustavus in battle - in 1629, at Trzcianka. But Gustavus was too strong this time to suffer even a tactical defeat. His armies were battle-hardened and had high morale. At first, both sides waited out, and the artillery duel that ensued somehow favored the Swedes - realizing this, Koniecpolski started an offensive against the Swedish right flank, utilizing the superiority of Polish cavalry, and for a while it seemed, as another Polish attack engaged the Swedish center (preventing it from outflanking the Poles attacking the right flank) whilst Polish reinforcements arrived, that Poland would win. However, a furious counteroffensive on the Polish center-attacker flank, led by Gustavus personally, combined with Lennart Torstenson's skilled command of field artillery (it was quickly shifted to face the incoming Polish forces in the right, throwing a large part of the Poles attacking the right flank, including the famed Polish lancers, into disorder) resulted in a total rout of the attackers and in a vigorous attack taking the Polish artillery and defeating their reinforcements. Gustavus was wounded in the left leg during the battle, but survived, whilst Koniecpolski was captured whilst trying to rally the army. Jan managed to restore some semblance of order, however, and retreated to Poznan with some forces left, but that was hardly enough to compensate the disastrous defeat.
The Sejm already changed its mind about supporting the continued war, and so did Jan ("Jesuit? Why not?"), but as Swedish fleet came out victorious at Osel, Gustavus Adolphus and Fyodor felt confident enough to act arrogantly. Russians demanded cession of Smolensk and nearby lands as well as of a vast southeastern chunk of Poland, namely the Ukraine, including the great city of Kiev. Gustavus demanded that East Prussia is re-united with his good friends in Brandenburg who proved to be such splendid, dedicated cannon meat and strict limits on the Polish war fleet - oh, and return of all lands captured by Poland ofcourse. And an indemnity. And you know what? I think I'll take Danzig too. He had underestimated the Sejm's underestimation of him, not to mention that he overestimated their warweariness. The war went on, and the Poles actually defeated the Russo-Cossack armies at Chernobyl. But everything else went rather badly. Swedish armies - hard-pressed for time, as the Spaniards invaded Bavaria - assaulted and took Poznan, rapidly moved to Warsaw and soon enough were knocking at the doors of the Polish capital with cannon-balls. Finally, the Sejm had to accept all the peace terms ("The Treaty of Warsaw"), and Jan found it prudent to move somewhere safe while the nobles of the Republic (OOC: yes, Poland was called a Republic at the time. Yes, it was a monarchy. Yes, the king called it the republic too.) were looking for an obvious scapegoat. He tried becoming a Jesuit, but got bored and returned to Poland mostly because the Sejm didn't really find anybody else, and besides, apart from his radical changes of attitude, Jan wasn't all that bad a monarch. Meanwhile, the Russians sat content with their gains, Fyodor being hailed as the Tsar who reconquered Kiev, the ancient capital. Ofcourse, the PRESENT capital remained at Moscow. As a result of this war, Russia's new (1635) border with Poland lay between Russian Podolia and Polish Volhynia, a huge territorial loss for Poland, albeit admittedly it was a very, very, very troublesome territory that was lost.
The Swedes, meanwhile, were free to turn to fight the Habsburgs - Austro-Spanish forces retook much of Bavaria and again invaded poor, poor Saxony, prushing local forces. But as a counter-weight, France now fully entered the war on the Protestant side, occupying Lorraine and Franche Comte. Yet, for now at least, the Habsburg armies wanted combat with Sweden. Battle was given in... you guessed it. Saxony again. At Jena. The Swedish forces had an opportunity to crush the Austrians before their Spanish allies, who marched at some distance, could reinforce them, but foggy weather postponed the Swedish attack and the Austro-Spanish forces managed to prepare somewhat to face the Swedes. The bloody battle that ensued eventually did resulted in Habsburg retreat from Saxony - but the Swedish casualties were huge, and the Austrian diplomacy begun to bear fruit as the Corpus Evangelicorum begun to shake. Gustavus finally decided that certian measures had to be taken. Firstly, a reserve Swedish army under Baner was prepared to quickly defeat any prince who tries to betray him. Secondly, Oxenstierna was sent on a trip to France. Paris, to be precise. To talk with Richeleu.
The Treaty of Paris was signed soon after the strenghthened Habsburg forces defeated the French at Arras, giving said French some incentive for this as well. It was agreed that neither Sweden nor France will sign separate peace with the "Habsburg tyrants", and whilst France for its part obliged to support the Swedish policy in Germany (i.e. creation of a loose Protestant Confederation in alliance with Sweden and the crippling of Austrian Habsburgs), Sweden obliged to support the French policy, it being wrecking the Spanish Habsburgs to the best of their ability, on battlefield and at the peace table. Separate agreements were signed with the Dutch Republic, whose war aims were basically surviving, prefferably without any Spaniards nearby. It is unknown as to who exactly invited them, but Ottoman Turks, sensing Habsburg blood, begun amassing armies as well for some... unifying of Hungary. Under Turkish rule, ofcourse.
The said treaty also made the Protestant princes realize that they were hemmed in between France and Sweden, and the prospects of rebellion didn't seem extremelly bright. Resistance is futile, Gustavus Adolphus was quoted as saying by some upon hearing of the success of the negotiations. You will be confederated. And allied to Sweden.
Meanwhile, Fyodor III died, and Mikhail II came to power in Russia. But that's beside the point.
June 1632. The Thirty Years War rages. The Swedish armies, undefeated on the field, are facing another problem - increasing reluctance of the German protestant nobles. The Corpus Evangelicorum, Gustavus Adolphus' brainchild, an alliance of Protestant German princes is hardly paying off - albeit the southern Protestant duchies, still threatened by the Habsburgs and their allies, did join it, the north is reluctant. The north, in fact, hates and fears Sweden just as much as they did Habsburgs when Wallenstein was surpreme there. Neither Brandenburg nor Saxony, the strongest Protestant powers, joined the Corpus. They sensed no threat.
In that way, Poland's entry into the war was in many respects a GOOD thing for Sweden. Brandenburg was invaded, Saxony threatened - and now, the north once more turned its eyes towards Gustavus, asking him to save them. Gustavus rubs his arms. That's more like it. Corpus Evangelicorum, after painful negotiations led by cancellor Oxenstierna (Gustavus was too busy turning around his armies to face the Polish threat), actually became what it was intended to be. True, not all the Protestant princes agreed to it - the northwestern ones still proctrastinated - but at least Saxony and Brandenburg, and the northeast, were in it now as well. Now things were getting better, and Gustavus, not dismayed by the surprisingly-fast fall of Riga and Memel to the Poles, moved northeast. In a close-ran battle, Wladyslaw IV was defeated badly at Luckenwald in late 1632, dying from a Swedish cannon ball, and his brother Jan II was elected by the Sejm. The Polish nobles wanted him to end the war, but made a bad choice - Jan managed to persuade them that to end the war without accepting humiliating terms, Poland needed to have a good bargaining position.
Mind it, Jan was no warmongerer. Most of the times. The thing about him was that he was a rather moody individual who often switched between wanting to be a soldier and being disgusted with war and wanting to be a Jesuit priest, for example. Still, for now at least, he was in the mood for war. And war there was - on many fronts. Whilst Talinn was still holding out against Polish forces and whilst the Poles were repulsed from Brandenburg, in the southeast a Cossack civil war begun and ended, with a pro-Russian faction triumphant. Said faction pledged loyalty to Tsar Fyodor, whilst the Crimean Tatars, sensing an opportunity, intensified raids into Ukraine. Russian forces, which undergone many reforms during the rule of Fyodor III (still rather sub-par, but marginally better then in OTL), besieged Smolensk and, being led by knyaz Mikhail personally, actually managed to - partially due to the help of the Russian population of the city, but mostly due to Polish distraction elsewhere - recapture the great fortress, restoring thusly all lands lost during the Time of Troubles to Russia. Polish forces inflicted many casualties on the Russian army and prevented further advance, but damage has been done.
Jan II quickly assessed the strategic situation, mused about becoming a Jesuit priest, mused about it again when he found out that the Austrians - in early 1633 - were utterly routed at Lutzen, and that Wallenstein himself was badly injured, dying a few days later. But he decided to give war a chance. On the sea, the Polish fleet continued winning skirmishes, but no decisive battle came. The Cossacks were besieging Kiev. Russians were marching to reinforce Talinn, whilst the larger Russian army slowly marched for Minsk. The Swedes were the largest threat, though. Already, their armies were threatening Poznan, and Gustavus Adolphus was sure to knock Poland out, now. Some Polish forces managed to defeat the Russians at Narva, and then also captured Talinn, but elsewhere, news were bad. All of Ukraine was up in flames, albeit in the west the Polish forces were holding out. A Russian army already reinforced the Cossacks, who in exchange for considerable autonomy agreed to give Fyodor entire Ukraine, and Kiev has fallen. But the decisive battle was fought elsewhere.
Leszno was a rather small city, but important in that a) it was an academic and textile production center and b) it was very close to Poznan, a great trade center and one of the most important Polish cities. It was only natural that Gustavus Adolphus would try to take Leszno and then Poznan - with the war at sea still stalemated, the only real way to knock Poland out fast was to striek for its very heartlands, an ambitious and daring plan but not much more ambitious and daring then Gustavus' little blitzkrieg in Germany. The problem was that Jan realized that Gustavus would not use Habsburg weakness to take Vienna but rather would try to crush Poland so that it, in turn, will not interrupt the final campaign against Austria. The campaign in Poland also involved some Brandenburgian troops under Swedish command, but the Saxons, again feeling themselves unthreatened, procrastinated. Oxenstierna's best efforts only barely kept the Corpus Evangelicorum together for now. Gustavus feared that soon, he might face betrayal. That, too, was an important consideration, and he wanted to destroy the Polish threat to disencourage that. Jan adopted some of Gustavus' combined arms ideas, but not all of them - there was no time for a full-scale reform. That was what doomed Poland. Still, Jan put up a good fight - or rather, Koniecpolski, perhaps the only man who ever defeated Gustavus in battle - in 1629, at Trzcianka. But Gustavus was too strong this time to suffer even a tactical defeat. His armies were battle-hardened and had high morale. At first, both sides waited out, and the artillery duel that ensued somehow favored the Swedes - realizing this, Koniecpolski started an offensive against the Swedish right flank, utilizing the superiority of Polish cavalry, and for a while it seemed, as another Polish attack engaged the Swedish center (preventing it from outflanking the Poles attacking the right flank) whilst Polish reinforcements arrived, that Poland would win. However, a furious counteroffensive on the Polish center-attacker flank, led by Gustavus personally, combined with Lennart Torstenson's skilled command of field artillery (it was quickly shifted to face the incoming Polish forces in the right, throwing a large part of the Poles attacking the right flank, including the famed Polish lancers, into disorder) resulted in a total rout of the attackers and in a vigorous attack taking the Polish artillery and defeating their reinforcements. Gustavus was wounded in the left leg during the battle, but survived, whilst Koniecpolski was captured whilst trying to rally the army. Jan managed to restore some semblance of order, however, and retreated to Poznan with some forces left, but that was hardly enough to compensate the disastrous defeat.
The Sejm already changed its mind about supporting the continued war, and so did Jan ("Jesuit? Why not?"), but as Swedish fleet came out victorious at Osel, Gustavus Adolphus and Fyodor felt confident enough to act arrogantly. Russians demanded cession of Smolensk and nearby lands as well as of a vast southeastern chunk of Poland, namely the Ukraine, including the great city of Kiev. Gustavus demanded that East Prussia is re-united with his good friends in Brandenburg who proved to be such splendid, dedicated cannon meat and strict limits on the Polish war fleet - oh, and return of all lands captured by Poland ofcourse. And an indemnity. And you know what? I think I'll take Danzig too. He had underestimated the Sejm's underestimation of him, not to mention that he overestimated their warweariness. The war went on, and the Poles actually defeated the Russo-Cossack armies at Chernobyl. But everything else went rather badly. Swedish armies - hard-pressed for time, as the Spaniards invaded Bavaria - assaulted and took Poznan, rapidly moved to Warsaw and soon enough were knocking at the doors of the Polish capital with cannon-balls. Finally, the Sejm had to accept all the peace terms ("The Treaty of Warsaw"), and Jan found it prudent to move somewhere safe while the nobles of the Republic (OOC: yes, Poland was called a Republic at the time. Yes, it was a monarchy. Yes, the king called it the republic too.) were looking for an obvious scapegoat. He tried becoming a Jesuit, but got bored and returned to Poland mostly because the Sejm didn't really find anybody else, and besides, apart from his radical changes of attitude, Jan wasn't all that bad a monarch. Meanwhile, the Russians sat content with their gains, Fyodor being hailed as the Tsar who reconquered Kiev, the ancient capital. Ofcourse, the PRESENT capital remained at Moscow. As a result of this war, Russia's new (1635) border with Poland lay between Russian Podolia and Polish Volhynia, a huge territorial loss for Poland, albeit admittedly it was a very, very, very troublesome territory that was lost.
The Swedes, meanwhile, were free to turn to fight the Habsburgs - Austro-Spanish forces retook much of Bavaria and again invaded poor, poor Saxony, prushing local forces. But as a counter-weight, France now fully entered the war on the Protestant side, occupying Lorraine and Franche Comte. Yet, for now at least, the Habsburg armies wanted combat with Sweden. Battle was given in... you guessed it. Saxony again. At Jena. The Swedish forces had an opportunity to crush the Austrians before their Spanish allies, who marched at some distance, could reinforce them, but foggy weather postponed the Swedish attack and the Austro-Spanish forces managed to prepare somewhat to face the Swedes. The bloody battle that ensued eventually did resulted in Habsburg retreat from Saxony - but the Swedish casualties were huge, and the Austrian diplomacy begun to bear fruit as the Corpus Evangelicorum begun to shake. Gustavus finally decided that certian measures had to be taken. Firstly, a reserve Swedish army under Baner was prepared to quickly defeat any prince who tries to betray him. Secondly, Oxenstierna was sent on a trip to France. Paris, to be precise. To talk with Richeleu.
The Treaty of Paris was signed soon after the strenghthened Habsburg forces defeated the French at Arras, giving said French some incentive for this as well. It was agreed that neither Sweden nor France will sign separate peace with the "Habsburg tyrants", and whilst France for its part obliged to support the Swedish policy in Germany (i.e. creation of a loose Protestant Confederation in alliance with Sweden and the crippling of Austrian Habsburgs), Sweden obliged to support the French policy, it being wrecking the Spanish Habsburgs to the best of their ability, on battlefield and at the peace table. Separate agreements were signed with the Dutch Republic, whose war aims were basically surviving, prefferably without any Spaniards nearby. It is unknown as to who exactly invited them, but Ottoman Turks, sensing Habsburg blood, begun amassing armies as well for some... unifying of Hungary. Under Turkish rule, ofcourse.
The said treaty also made the Protestant princes realize that they were hemmed in between France and Sweden, and the prospects of rebellion didn't seem extremelly bright. Resistance is futile, Gustavus Adolphus was quoted as saying by some upon hearing of the success of the negotiations. You will be confederated. And allied to Sweden.
Meanwhile, Fyodor III died, and Mikhail II came to power in Russia. But that's beside the point.
das
Regeneration In Process
Back in Germany, not all was going well for the Parisian Powers. French forces were driven back at Luxembourg, the Habsburgs were on a rampage in the south, threatening Nuremburg, the Brandenburgians again begun to cause trouble, not wanting to cooperate now that the immediate threat - from the east - was over. French diplomats laboured day and night to start rebellions in Catalonia and Portugal, but progress was slow. Sweden needed a victory. And fast - the foraging was increasingly... upsetting for the German people. The jolly drunkard John George of Saxony, who wanted to drink his beer in peace, was also increasingly upset.
So Gustavus Adolphus decided that victory should be sought in Spanish Netherlands - there, Dutch, Swedish and French armies will be able to cooperate best, and by the liberation of Spanish Netherlands Spanish economy and prestige would be greately damaged. The Spaniards and their Austrian relatives were still distracted near Nuremburg, and Gustavus Adolphus decided to risk - he split away a part of his army under De la Gardie to attack the Spanish at Nuremburg, whilst his main army and that of Baner moved to Spanish Netherlands, along the way linking up with armies of Brunswick and other northwestern principalities - from there, Gustavus invaded Julich. Regroupped, French armies under Conde and Turenne, two of the greatest French 17th century commanders, struck towards Lille, whilst a smaller French force threatened Luxembourg again. And finally, the Dutch gathered their forces for the offensive against the hated Spaniards. Stadholder Frederik Hendrik Oranje previously agreed with France to partition Spanish Netherlands, and under the banner of liberating Ghent and Brussels he personally led a Dutch army to besiege and assault fortress by fortress. The Spanish were not completely unprepared for France and Netherlands - the quick redeployment of Swedish troops and the confused reports of Gustavus Adolphus' army marching south to Nuremburg however resulted in some element of surprise. 1637 was the decisive year. Whilst the Swedes were defeated at Nuremburg and the Austro-Spanish forces took the city with some loss, the main battle came in Spanish Netherlands. Long story cut short, the Spanish were routed at Rocroi and defeated again, though not as badly, at Lille, the Dutch took Breda and Hulst and besieged Ghent, the Swedes overran Julich and joined with French at Luxembourg, crushing the Spanish there. The 1637 campaign did not utterly destroy the Spanish forces in Belgium, but their position became very, very precarious and Habsburg forces had to abandon their plans to invade Saxony (again!), moving northwest instead, to save de Melo's armies. But Protestant princes and De la Gardie resisted ferociously, slowing Habsburgs down in Wurttemburg. Thus in early 1638, a desperate de Melo surrendered, and Brussels and Ghent were occupied by the victorious Parisian Powers; the Stadholder, grateful, promised to give the Swedes more money, the French forces re-commited to the Rhine Campaign and an invasion of Catalonia, and said Catalonia along with Portugal used the evident Spanish weakness (and the evil, evil, evil Spanish policies of making the Cataluns support their army that was defending Catalonia from France) to rebel. Gustavus Adolphus' gambit succeeded, sort of, but the main Habsburg armies still threatened Corpus Envagelicorum's unity, as the Saxons, frightened by the fall of Nuremburg (and now Stuttgart as well) already entered negotiations with Perfidious Osterreich in Prague.
1638 and 1639 went by with minor skirmishes on the Main Front - in Rhineland. Both sides were gathering strenght for the Showdown. Habsburgs were defeated by Dutch and French fleets on the sea, the French were defeated at Tortosa but triumphed at Lerida, approaching River Ebro, while Savoy made up its mind and sided with France, allowing the French to launch small, irritating incursions in the Habsburg Duchy of Milan.
In 1640, the Habsburg forces stopped the offensive in Rhineland and instead launched an invasion of Saxony to make them hurry up with that treaty. Gustavus Adolphus used the opportunity to retake Nuremburg and, while Dresden was under siege, to invade with French assistance Bohemia along River Ohre. The Habsburgs soon lost Prague, and their supply route to Saxony was badly threatened. The invasion of Saxony was ended, the Habsburg forces moved to Bohemia, and a new battle came at Mlada Boleslav. It was a hard one, the Habsburgs were fighting in their territory, but eventually the fact that Swedes (and the French) had a numerical advantage, not to mention still were the best army in Europe, allowed another victory for Gustavus Adolphus. That was the end of the beginning of the end of the Habsburg Empire. Now the middle of the end came. Ha, ha, ha. Very Churchillian of me.
How to explain the swiftness of the Habsburg downfall? Just overstretchment? Corruption, stagnation? Bad luck? No, the Habsburgs were simply doomed by then to either a quick and glorious collapse (for theirs was already an old, established empire that begun to lag behind in all ways when compared to the two rising powers of Sweden and France), either a slow disintegration. In OTL, it was the latter. Here, it is the former. The clay-footed Habsburg giant, which in OTL gradually collapsed, here will be routed more slowly. Oh, sure, the Habsburgs did survive this Thirty Years War, and still with a considerable empire. But they lost vast amounts of territory in Europe and elsewhere, and were crippled even worse then in OTL. But back to the war.
The Habsburg armies were still existant, but all chances of Corpus Evangelicorum collapsing were gone - the Habsburgs were not worth negotiating with, instead they will now collapse. Reformation once more was on the march, slowly winning back what was lost in South Germany to the Counter-Reformation; Bavaria and Austria once more gained considerable Protestant movements, admittedly partially it was the refugees fleeing the hardships of war from Saxony. In Bohemia, the local nobility cheered as soon as news of victory came - albeit their previous candidates for Bohemian king all died, the son of Frederick the Winter King, Charles Louis, was still available and in fact accompanied the Swedish army as a valuable propaganda tool. Charles Louis himself was rather unsure about taking Bohemia, but the Habsburgs were clearly defeated beyond recovery. So he agreed. Protestant branch of the Wittelsbachs already was certain to become a significant power in post-war Germany.
Swedish armies quickly occupied the remnants of Silesia and Bohemia; their French allies routed Catholic Wittelsbach-Austrian armies at Augsburg. The Habsburgs however were desperate. They decided to fight on until Sweden or France, or both prefferably, are exhausted into signing a comparatively-favorable peace treaty. So far, at least, the Swedes, enheartened by the victory, demanded... a lot. Holy Roman Empire would essentially cease to exist, replaced by the Swedish allies of Corpus Evangelicorum. Bohemia would be granted to the Protestant Wittelsbachs, and elevated to a kingdom, no less! And the French terms had to be granted as well, Sweden won't agree otherwise. The French wanted recognition of the partition of Spanish Netherlands, Franche Comte, Catalonia, independance of Portugal... and then some. That just wouldn't do. The Habsburgs resolved to fight on, and that prolonged the war significantly.
Meanwhile, the Turks used this splendid opportunity to occupy Pressburg and Zagreb...
The rest of the war consisted of Habsburgs being steadily beaten out of their core areas. The Dutch fleet wrecked havoc on the Spanish commerce, and Maarten Tromp made Drake seem like a painless nuisance. Portuguese rebels defeated a Spanish attempt to capture Lisbon. French forces finally took Tortosa, and the Great Conde was besieging Milan. In 1644, with the Emperor having already fled, the commandant of Vienna surrendered the city to Gustavus without a battle in exchange for keeping his place and for the city NOT being destroyed and looted. Officially there was also something about evil Turks, but frankly angry Swedes are much more fearsome.
Not to mention that there was more of them.
Habsburg armies faced defeat after defeat. Finally, having lost Austria and Milan as well, having been kicked out of half of the Kingdom of Naples, having received numerous rebellions and having lost Saragossa, the Habsburgs, temporarily headed by Maria Anna, the Queen of Spain due to the insanity of Philip IV (he had a good reason to be insane...) and by Ferdinand III. Well, Maria Anna proved to be the most important one due to Ferdinand III being... dispossesed. The peace treaty could basically be described as a complete capitulation of the Habsburgs. To begin with... The Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist. All German states (i.e. states north of Switzerland and Venice) were joined by a "German Confederation", with an elective nominal head (elected by... the electors). Needless to say, most of those states were also united into Corpus Evangelicorum. Austria was essentially the only Catholic state that remained, but it was firstly made to grant full freedom of religion (for Christians, ofcourse...) and also ceded lots of land. A few other Catholic states remained, but they were insignificant - most important of those was Lorraine, restored to independance but recognized secretly to be in the French sphere of influence. Bavarian Wittelsbachs were dispossesed - all of their lands (and Bohemia, for that matter) went to Protestant, Rhenish Wittelsbachs. HOWEVER, to make sure they don't become too strong, Silesia became independant under the Franconian Hohenzollerns. And then the matter of Spain. Spain was hurt just as, if not more, badly, and the only reason it agreed to this peace was the fact that otherwise it would simply have ceased to exist unde the strain of war and will collapse into anarchy. Portugal, with all colonies apart from north Brazil, was detached from Spain, perpetually and completely. North Brazil was bought by the Dutch Republic from Portugal - the Portuguese didn't like it, but they were already on debt, incidentally to the Dutch, and the Dutch promised to cancel their debt as a sweetener for they had lots of money left. Duchy of Luxembourg, Bavarian Wittelsbach Liege, Arras and Wallonia went to France, Julich and the rest of Spanish Netherlands went to the Dutch Republic. Franche Comte was annexed into France, Catalonia became a semi-autonomous part of France. Strategic duchy of Mantua was confirmed after the French-born Duke of Nevers, a good, grateful ally of the late Cardinal Richileu and his successors. Duchy of Milan and Kingdom of Two Sicilies (a combination of Spanish Sicily and Naples) were granted independance, under Bourbon cadet line rulers. Sniff, poor Habsburgs. Not to mention that the Reformation was already, as said, restoring its influence in Austria...
And ofcourse the Ottomans held on to all their gains, albeit that was not mentioned in any treaties apart from an obscure Austro-Turkish agreement.
And the Swedes got Pommerania.
So Gustavus Adolphus decided that victory should be sought in Spanish Netherlands - there, Dutch, Swedish and French armies will be able to cooperate best, and by the liberation of Spanish Netherlands Spanish economy and prestige would be greately damaged. The Spaniards and their Austrian relatives were still distracted near Nuremburg, and Gustavus Adolphus decided to risk - he split away a part of his army under De la Gardie to attack the Spanish at Nuremburg, whilst his main army and that of Baner moved to Spanish Netherlands, along the way linking up with armies of Brunswick and other northwestern principalities - from there, Gustavus invaded Julich. Regroupped, French armies under Conde and Turenne, two of the greatest French 17th century commanders, struck towards Lille, whilst a smaller French force threatened Luxembourg again. And finally, the Dutch gathered their forces for the offensive against the hated Spaniards. Stadholder Frederik Hendrik Oranje previously agreed with France to partition Spanish Netherlands, and under the banner of liberating Ghent and Brussels he personally led a Dutch army to besiege and assault fortress by fortress. The Spanish were not completely unprepared for France and Netherlands - the quick redeployment of Swedish troops and the confused reports of Gustavus Adolphus' army marching south to Nuremburg however resulted in some element of surprise. 1637 was the decisive year. Whilst the Swedes were defeated at Nuremburg and the Austro-Spanish forces took the city with some loss, the main battle came in Spanish Netherlands. Long story cut short, the Spanish were routed at Rocroi and defeated again, though not as badly, at Lille, the Dutch took Breda and Hulst and besieged Ghent, the Swedes overran Julich and joined with French at Luxembourg, crushing the Spanish there. The 1637 campaign did not utterly destroy the Spanish forces in Belgium, but their position became very, very precarious and Habsburg forces had to abandon their plans to invade Saxony (again!), moving northwest instead, to save de Melo's armies. But Protestant princes and De la Gardie resisted ferociously, slowing Habsburgs down in Wurttemburg. Thus in early 1638, a desperate de Melo surrendered, and Brussels and Ghent were occupied by the victorious Parisian Powers; the Stadholder, grateful, promised to give the Swedes more money, the French forces re-commited to the Rhine Campaign and an invasion of Catalonia, and said Catalonia along with Portugal used the evident Spanish weakness (and the evil, evil, evil Spanish policies of making the Cataluns support their army that was defending Catalonia from France) to rebel. Gustavus Adolphus' gambit succeeded, sort of, but the main Habsburg armies still threatened Corpus Envagelicorum's unity, as the Saxons, frightened by the fall of Nuremburg (and now Stuttgart as well) already entered negotiations with Perfidious Osterreich in Prague.
1638 and 1639 went by with minor skirmishes on the Main Front - in Rhineland. Both sides were gathering strenght for the Showdown. Habsburgs were defeated by Dutch and French fleets on the sea, the French were defeated at Tortosa but triumphed at Lerida, approaching River Ebro, while Savoy made up its mind and sided with France, allowing the French to launch small, irritating incursions in the Habsburg Duchy of Milan.
In 1640, the Habsburg forces stopped the offensive in Rhineland and instead launched an invasion of Saxony to make them hurry up with that treaty. Gustavus Adolphus used the opportunity to retake Nuremburg and, while Dresden was under siege, to invade with French assistance Bohemia along River Ohre. The Habsburgs soon lost Prague, and their supply route to Saxony was badly threatened. The invasion of Saxony was ended, the Habsburg forces moved to Bohemia, and a new battle came at Mlada Boleslav. It was a hard one, the Habsburgs were fighting in their territory, but eventually the fact that Swedes (and the French) had a numerical advantage, not to mention still were the best army in Europe, allowed another victory for Gustavus Adolphus. That was the end of the beginning of the end of the Habsburg Empire. Now the middle of the end came. Ha, ha, ha. Very Churchillian of me.
How to explain the swiftness of the Habsburg downfall? Just overstretchment? Corruption, stagnation? Bad luck? No, the Habsburgs were simply doomed by then to either a quick and glorious collapse (for theirs was already an old, established empire that begun to lag behind in all ways when compared to the two rising powers of Sweden and France), either a slow disintegration. In OTL, it was the latter. Here, it is the former. The clay-footed Habsburg giant, which in OTL gradually collapsed, here will be routed more slowly. Oh, sure, the Habsburgs did survive this Thirty Years War, and still with a considerable empire. But they lost vast amounts of territory in Europe and elsewhere, and were crippled even worse then in OTL. But back to the war.
The Habsburg armies were still existant, but all chances of Corpus Evangelicorum collapsing were gone - the Habsburgs were not worth negotiating with, instead they will now collapse. Reformation once more was on the march, slowly winning back what was lost in South Germany to the Counter-Reformation; Bavaria and Austria once more gained considerable Protestant movements, admittedly partially it was the refugees fleeing the hardships of war from Saxony. In Bohemia, the local nobility cheered as soon as news of victory came - albeit their previous candidates for Bohemian king all died, the son of Frederick the Winter King, Charles Louis, was still available and in fact accompanied the Swedish army as a valuable propaganda tool. Charles Louis himself was rather unsure about taking Bohemia, but the Habsburgs were clearly defeated beyond recovery. So he agreed. Protestant branch of the Wittelsbachs already was certain to become a significant power in post-war Germany.
Swedish armies quickly occupied the remnants of Silesia and Bohemia; their French allies routed Catholic Wittelsbach-Austrian armies at Augsburg. The Habsburgs however were desperate. They decided to fight on until Sweden or France, or both prefferably, are exhausted into signing a comparatively-favorable peace treaty. So far, at least, the Swedes, enheartened by the victory, demanded... a lot. Holy Roman Empire would essentially cease to exist, replaced by the Swedish allies of Corpus Evangelicorum. Bohemia would be granted to the Protestant Wittelsbachs, and elevated to a kingdom, no less! And the French terms had to be granted as well, Sweden won't agree otherwise. The French wanted recognition of the partition of Spanish Netherlands, Franche Comte, Catalonia, independance of Portugal... and then some. That just wouldn't do. The Habsburgs resolved to fight on, and that prolonged the war significantly.
Meanwhile, the Turks used this splendid opportunity to occupy Pressburg and Zagreb...
The rest of the war consisted of Habsburgs being steadily beaten out of their core areas. The Dutch fleet wrecked havoc on the Spanish commerce, and Maarten Tromp made Drake seem like a painless nuisance. Portuguese rebels defeated a Spanish attempt to capture Lisbon. French forces finally took Tortosa, and the Great Conde was besieging Milan. In 1644, with the Emperor having already fled, the commandant of Vienna surrendered the city to Gustavus without a battle in exchange for keeping his place and for the city NOT being destroyed and looted. Officially there was also something about evil Turks, but frankly angry Swedes are much more fearsome.
Not to mention that there was more of them.
Habsburg armies faced defeat after defeat. Finally, having lost Austria and Milan as well, having been kicked out of half of the Kingdom of Naples, having received numerous rebellions and having lost Saragossa, the Habsburgs, temporarily headed by Maria Anna, the Queen of Spain due to the insanity of Philip IV (he had a good reason to be insane...) and by Ferdinand III. Well, Maria Anna proved to be the most important one due to Ferdinand III being... dispossesed. The peace treaty could basically be described as a complete capitulation of the Habsburgs. To begin with... The Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist. All German states (i.e. states north of Switzerland and Venice) were joined by a "German Confederation", with an elective nominal head (elected by... the electors). Needless to say, most of those states were also united into Corpus Evangelicorum. Austria was essentially the only Catholic state that remained, but it was firstly made to grant full freedom of religion (for Christians, ofcourse...) and also ceded lots of land. A few other Catholic states remained, but they were insignificant - most important of those was Lorraine, restored to independance but recognized secretly to be in the French sphere of influence. Bavarian Wittelsbachs were dispossesed - all of their lands (and Bohemia, for that matter) went to Protestant, Rhenish Wittelsbachs. HOWEVER, to make sure they don't become too strong, Silesia became independant under the Franconian Hohenzollerns. And then the matter of Spain. Spain was hurt just as, if not more, badly, and the only reason it agreed to this peace was the fact that otherwise it would simply have ceased to exist unde the strain of war and will collapse into anarchy. Portugal, with all colonies apart from north Brazil, was detached from Spain, perpetually and completely. North Brazil was bought by the Dutch Republic from Portugal - the Portuguese didn't like it, but they were already on debt, incidentally to the Dutch, and the Dutch promised to cancel their debt as a sweetener for they had lots of money left. Duchy of Luxembourg, Bavarian Wittelsbach Liege, Arras and Wallonia went to France, Julich and the rest of Spanish Netherlands went to the Dutch Republic. Franche Comte was annexed into France, Catalonia became a semi-autonomous part of France. Strategic duchy of Mantua was confirmed after the French-born Duke of Nevers, a good, grateful ally of the late Cardinal Richileu and his successors. Duchy of Milan and Kingdom of Two Sicilies (a combination of Spanish Sicily and Naples) were granted independance, under Bourbon cadet line rulers. Sniff, poor Habsburgs. Not to mention that the Reformation was already, as said, restoring its influence in Austria...
And ofcourse the Ottomans held on to all their gains, albeit that was not mentioned in any treaties apart from an obscure Austro-Turkish agreement.
And the Swedes got Pommerania.
das
Regeneration In Process
I know I got carried away, but I didn't think it will actually have to be in TWO POSTS! 
Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
das said:I know I got carried away, but I didn't think it will actually have to be in TWO POSTS!
That was very good, but how did Catholic France support the Protestant Swedes? (Unless i missed something)
das
Regeneration In Process
See OTL Thirty Years War, Reno - they did so in OTL as well, mostly because they didn't like Spanish Habsburgs and were fighting an on-and-off war with them for over a century by then. Cardinal Richelieu put down the Protestant rebels in France... and then allied with Sweden, scaring the hell out of Austrians. In OTL, they managed to get a peace treaty with German statelets, but in this ATL they didn't get a great victory that allowed them to impose peace on their (but not as harsh as they wanted, ofcourse) terms due to many reasons.
das
Regeneration In Process
OOC: Hmm, sorry, got carried away again, but anyhow, here is the English Civil War. I didn't want to make it separate from the main part, but it just so happened.
IC:
The Little Ice Age was at its greatest, perhaps - the climate was detiriorating, and thus the harvests worsened, and all this... resulted in dissent. Growing dissent was felt even before - France was occasionally struck by rebellions during the late Thirty Years War (no Fronde, though - the situation is much better then in OTL), England was faring very bad indeed as well, much worse then any other part of Europe, for Scotland and Ireland broke off in rebellion, and the King querreled with the Parliament. In 1643, whilst the Habsburgs were losing the last of their strongholds in Italy, the crisis finally came to a head. Already for some time a "cold war" struck London and indeed all of England, as both sides were preparing for war ever since in mid-1642 Charles II finally rejected the Nineteen Propositions that demanded numerous concessions of royal power, instead suggesting a "less radical version thereof to be put forward". (due to butterflies - no Fronde just across the canal, it wasn't important in England but still I think it had some influence - the war started a year later, with a more prepared king, as he was not as desperate as to try to arrest MPs - at first). Now, however, the most ardent anti-royalists resorted to open provocation, threatening a revolt unless their proposals are accepted as they are. The king responded by arresting several Parliamentary leaders who supported this, most prominently John Pym - albeit two of the other "to-be-arrested" MPs have escaped, Pym's capture and eventual execution was both a large damage to the Parliament which lost one of its greatest leaders and a much-anticipated (by some) cause around which to rally the people. The English Civil War has begun.
The early fighting was of a most confused nature, but by May 1643 a more-or-less clear picture of the affairs has emerged from the chaos. Wales and Northumbria were with the king, as of now, and so was much of Cornwallis. The rest, including London, was under Parliamentary control. The course was clear - take London. Royalists had financial problems, and thus their best hope was to act fact, to win before the Parliamentaries can profit from their advantage. Time was against Charles I. He knew it all too well.
Prince Rupert, his nephew, was his best commander, and Charles appreciated that fact. Fresh from the battlefields of Germany where he fought on the Swedish side, from which he returned in 1641 partially out of nostalgia and partially out of boredom, Prince Rupert during late 1642/early 1643 did his best to apply the lessons of the Thirty Years War on the English Royalist army. It wasn't completely lagging behind, some of Gustavus' ideas were adopted here to keep up with France - but it really was backwards compared to what Rupert saw with the great Swedish king. Still, some good was done, and this proved the decisive factor for the two victories - at Edgehill and at Turnham Green (the offensive on London was three-pronged - the main one was met at Edgehill by Parliamentary militias which were defeated by Rupert's supreme military experience, whilst two smaller groups from Oxford and Yorkshire used the distraction to eventually rout the more organized (when compared to the previous militias) Parliamentary army at Turnham Green just outside of London, attacking it in the flanks). The MPs partially died/were captured during the ensuing assault on London after the rout at Turnham Green, partially escaped with Cromwell and his followers to the north, to undertake several reforms of their own. The best effort was done by Cromwell to find allies in Scotland, who were determined to keep England weak - and a total victory of a king of the Parliament there, meaning a swift resolution to many of England's troubles, was hardly weakening. Meanwhile, Rupert pushed other Parliamentary forces back in the south, as far as Portsmouth. A small Parliamentarian pocket remained, based at Dover, in the south, but elsewhere after the capture of London the Royalists ruled supreme. However, as Cromwell signed alliances with Scotland and Ireland, it became clear that this war will not be a short one. The Scottish-Parliamentarian forces in 1644 started an offensive, linking up and taking York. Cromwell's "New Model Army" was very much efficient, and allowed the capture of Liverpool. Nottingham was under Parliamentary siege. For his part, Charles used 1644 to root out the "Dover Parliament" and to consolidate his gains; also, Cambridge and Norwich were captured. Financially, he was frustrated by the evacuation of the treasury, but on the other hand now it was he who held the richest parts of England. The year 1645 saw the Parliamentary armies fare well against the Royalists, defeating even Rupert, but Cromwell's luck and leadership have been insufficient - Royalist armies retreated, with little exception, in good order, and eventually Charles managed to sign a peace treaty with Scotland, where the royalist Montrose was temporarily predominant - furthermore, the Scotts agreed to help Charles fight Cromwell. The Scottish state soon went into a civil war of its own, but...
Long story cut short, Charles eventually (in 1649) won in England, but in Scotland, remnants of Cromwell's armies allowed Argyll to win. Ireland outside of Scottish Ulster was eventually reconquered by England, but the British Isles were now firmly divided once more; the best efforts of James VI were undone. Republic of Scotland and Kingdom of England prepared for the next round of the fighting...
Oh, and a few years later a new anti-Royalist rebellion was put down. Charles eventually allowed a much weaker Parliament, or rather a House of Lords, to be assembled, but the real power was in the hands of the king. English Absolutism was upheld.
IC:
The Little Ice Age was at its greatest, perhaps - the climate was detiriorating, and thus the harvests worsened, and all this... resulted in dissent. Growing dissent was felt even before - France was occasionally struck by rebellions during the late Thirty Years War (no Fronde, though - the situation is much better then in OTL), England was faring very bad indeed as well, much worse then any other part of Europe, for Scotland and Ireland broke off in rebellion, and the King querreled with the Parliament. In 1643, whilst the Habsburgs were losing the last of their strongholds in Italy, the crisis finally came to a head. Already for some time a "cold war" struck London and indeed all of England, as both sides were preparing for war ever since in mid-1642 Charles II finally rejected the Nineteen Propositions that demanded numerous concessions of royal power, instead suggesting a "less radical version thereof to be put forward". (due to butterflies - no Fronde just across the canal, it wasn't important in England but still I think it had some influence - the war started a year later, with a more prepared king, as he was not as desperate as to try to arrest MPs - at first). Now, however, the most ardent anti-royalists resorted to open provocation, threatening a revolt unless their proposals are accepted as they are. The king responded by arresting several Parliamentary leaders who supported this, most prominently John Pym - albeit two of the other "to-be-arrested" MPs have escaped, Pym's capture and eventual execution was both a large damage to the Parliament which lost one of its greatest leaders and a much-anticipated (by some) cause around which to rally the people. The English Civil War has begun.
The early fighting was of a most confused nature, but by May 1643 a more-or-less clear picture of the affairs has emerged from the chaos. Wales and Northumbria were with the king, as of now, and so was much of Cornwallis. The rest, including London, was under Parliamentary control. The course was clear - take London. Royalists had financial problems, and thus their best hope was to act fact, to win before the Parliamentaries can profit from their advantage. Time was against Charles I. He knew it all too well.
Prince Rupert, his nephew, was his best commander, and Charles appreciated that fact. Fresh from the battlefields of Germany where he fought on the Swedish side, from which he returned in 1641 partially out of nostalgia and partially out of boredom, Prince Rupert during late 1642/early 1643 did his best to apply the lessons of the Thirty Years War on the English Royalist army. It wasn't completely lagging behind, some of Gustavus' ideas were adopted here to keep up with France - but it really was backwards compared to what Rupert saw with the great Swedish king. Still, some good was done, and this proved the decisive factor for the two victories - at Edgehill and at Turnham Green (the offensive on London was three-pronged - the main one was met at Edgehill by Parliamentary militias which were defeated by Rupert's supreme military experience, whilst two smaller groups from Oxford and Yorkshire used the distraction to eventually rout the more organized (when compared to the previous militias) Parliamentary army at Turnham Green just outside of London, attacking it in the flanks). The MPs partially died/were captured during the ensuing assault on London after the rout at Turnham Green, partially escaped with Cromwell and his followers to the north, to undertake several reforms of their own. The best effort was done by Cromwell to find allies in Scotland, who were determined to keep England weak - and a total victory of a king of the Parliament there, meaning a swift resolution to many of England's troubles, was hardly weakening. Meanwhile, Rupert pushed other Parliamentary forces back in the south, as far as Portsmouth. A small Parliamentarian pocket remained, based at Dover, in the south, but elsewhere after the capture of London the Royalists ruled supreme. However, as Cromwell signed alliances with Scotland and Ireland, it became clear that this war will not be a short one. The Scottish-Parliamentarian forces in 1644 started an offensive, linking up and taking York. Cromwell's "New Model Army" was very much efficient, and allowed the capture of Liverpool. Nottingham was under Parliamentary siege. For his part, Charles used 1644 to root out the "Dover Parliament" and to consolidate his gains; also, Cambridge and Norwich were captured. Financially, he was frustrated by the evacuation of the treasury, but on the other hand now it was he who held the richest parts of England. The year 1645 saw the Parliamentary armies fare well against the Royalists, defeating even Rupert, but Cromwell's luck and leadership have been insufficient - Royalist armies retreated, with little exception, in good order, and eventually Charles managed to sign a peace treaty with Scotland, where the royalist Montrose was temporarily predominant - furthermore, the Scotts agreed to help Charles fight Cromwell. The Scottish state soon went into a civil war of its own, but...
Long story cut short, Charles eventually (in 1649) won in England, but in Scotland, remnants of Cromwell's armies allowed Argyll to win. Ireland outside of Scottish Ulster was eventually reconquered by England, but the British Isles were now firmly divided once more; the best efforts of James VI were undone. Republic of Scotland and Kingdom of England prepared for the next round of the fighting...
Oh, and a few years later a new anti-Royalist rebellion was put down. Charles eventually allowed a much weaker Parliament, or rather a House of Lords, to be assembled, but the real power was in the hands of the king. English Absolutism was upheld.
das
Regeneration In Process
OOC: I decided to make a separate post for non-European affairs, i.e. colonization, Far East, etc, and a separate one for Europe itself.
IC:
1649-1700. The Colonies, the sea and the Far East.
Dissent, as said, was growing in Europe. But more on the precise dissent later - it is now more important that we note that, the way it was, many people were unhappy in Europe - out of social problems, disease, overpopulation, political grievances, many other reasons. That was why during the late 17th century especially, many Europeans moved out. It was easier, to some extent, for the Russians, who had vast eastern lands to colonize. In Central Europe, locked in as it was, things were the hardest, albeit during the Thirty Years War many Germans fled for other European colonies in America. The five prime colonial powers in the Americas were England, France, Holland, Spain and Portugal - those were the ones who emerged victorious in the early colonial wars. But needless to say, the Spanish were now the weakest, which had certain reprecussions.
But for now, we will have to examine a certain important naval and colonial struggle. Spurred by commercial interests and by geography, Netherlands and England were increasingly hostile. Trade and colonies were the primary matters. Charles I, until his death in 1657, did not want to risk a war - his situation at home was too precarious to risk it. Charles II, however, was young and restless, and felt that he could decrease dissent by a strong foreign policy. Thus the antagonization of Holland, which resulted in the Second Act of Navigation, which unlike the 14th century one was earnest. It greatly limited foreign trade, in hopes to strengthen England's own commerce, and to provoke the Dutch into agression. First Anglo-Dutch War, an ill-planned, ill-executed war, was a great debacle; the English only won the very first battle, at Texel. All other battles were grand victories of Maarten Tromp, and France, which generally was pro-English, nonetheless refused to intervenne. The defeat persuaded Charles to make reforms and to prepare for another war; he managed to skillfully use the growing tensions between France and Sweden to ally with France against the Swedish allies in Holland in 1666. The Second Anglo-Dutch War was rather better known as the Eight Years War, the first big European war since the Thirty Years one, but for now we should study the naval and colonial sides of the war. Tromp was already dead by then, but he had a worthy successor - Michiel Ruyter. Against him fought a worthy man, however - Admiral Gerard (OOC: ATL person who might have existed in OTL for all I know and care. All English admirals of the time I found so far were Parliamentaries in the ECW, and that makes them... unacceptable for such an important role). Two admirals could hardly gain an upper hand - their initial battles were all indecisive apart from Ruyter's minor defeat at Penzance. The decisive battle came in 1668 - at Cape Finisterre, where Ruyter moved to intercept the English forces sent to reinforce the militias in North America. Gerard commanded the escort fleet. In the tight battle, Ruyter won largely due to luck - the weather was rotten, and albeit this caused him much hardship it also damaged the French fleet sent to help the English and delayed its arrival. The superior disciplinne of the Dutch sailors was also important, but either way, Gerard died in battle, the English transports were mostly destroyed and the English fleet scattered. The French arrived too late to save anything, and - here, Ruyter's skill and the disciplinne of his men became especially important, for the French resolve broke due to seeming "unshakability" of the Dutch - too were defeated. The Swedish fleet then joined the Dutch one back in Holland and in 1671 defeated an Anglo-French attempt of a maritime invasion of Netherlands at Waddenzee.
In North America, New Holland was a rather insignificant colony until it begun to receive much immigration in 1640s - especially Huguenot and English (mostly radical Parliamentarist - many Parliamentarists fled to Scotland, but some chose Holland instead, or rather its colonies). This brought more attention to it, and it extended along the Hudson River towards Fort Oranje, an important fur trade outpost. Furthermore, in 1665, the Dutch, after a series of colonial border conflicts with the English to the north, have sent a small amount of troops - those troops would prove crucial while Ruyter first delayed and later destroyed the English reinforcements. The early English attacks on Fort Oranje and New Amsterdam were repulsed, and in 1673 Newport was captured. It was returned by the Treaty of Westphalia the next year, but the same treaty confirmed River Connecticut as the border between New Holland and New England; needless to say most of those colonies were, in the 17th century at least, under native control. Further south, the Dutch and the Spanish, well, mostly the Dutch ofcourse, succesfully defended the Dutch and Spanish possessions from Anglo-French forces, and captured several important possessions, including Barbados - all those were "ransomed" back at Westphalia. And further south was one of the greatest Dutch colonies - Dutch, or North, Brazil with the capital in Mauritsstad (OTL Recife). Often threatened by Portuguese rebellions, it was somehow pacified by the capable administration of Johan Maurits, but as in 1666 Portugal stood on the English side, a new wave of uprisings begun. Some sort of control was maintained in the crucial cities, whilst maritime landings secured English Essequibo and French Cayenne in Guinea. These territories remained Dutch after the war, and Maurits managed, after the rebellion was put down in 1673, to persuade the stadholder in the need of better government "if we are to retain this rich land" - basically, what was meant that the Calvinist ministers are restrained in their vigour and that the rights of the Portuguese plantation owners are guaranteed. Revolt risk was not eliminated, but after some reforms took place, combined with increasing Huguenot immigration, well, things got better. Meanwhile, in a land far, far away, this war was also fought. That land was called "India". The Dutch fleet there scored several victories over the Portuguese one and its English allies, and captured several of their trade posts, but the only significant territorial change at Westphalia was the annexation of East Timor and Portuguese holdings in Ceylon by Netherlands; most other gains were abandoned, albeit Dutch primacy in Indonesia was acknowledged.
Another European war - the First Rhenish War - also involved some fighting in the colonies, but no changes came apart from the confirmed independance of Virginia - in the years preceding the war, in 1681 to be exact, a rebellion begun in Virginia over policy towards Amerinds; the governor, William Berkley, wanted greater trade and good relations with the natives, namely Powhatans. A charismatic local colonist, one of the Parliamentarian supporters who nonetheless like those French Huguenots who moved to Quebec decided to settle in Virginia, by the name of Thomas Braydon, wanted further expansion instead, to win lands for Virginia's growing population. He assembled a reasonably-large force of volunteers, and when Berkley declared this to be rebellion, Braydon... rebelled. (OOC: in OTL, a rather similar incident took place earlier, the rebellion actually succeeded but fell apart just after that, because its leader was promptly assassinated by the penguins. Here, we have a different leader, a different time and the penguins distracted elsewhere.) In a ferocious bloodbath that followed, drunken (according to some accounts) colonists overran Berkley's mostly-unenthusiastic followers and then also beat up some Amerinds. After sobering up, proverbially and perhaps literally, the colonists realized that they just killed their governor and defeated the local garrisons. Braydon, as already said a Parliamentarian, nonetheless knew quite well that the English wouldn't stand for this, and also knew that they won't really ask questions at all. Some of the more Royalist colonists refused, but Braydon's fellow Parliamentarians grouped up with local opportunists and those who wanted greater self-government - a fairly large percentage of the colonists was persuaded by Braydon's rhetoric. The Virginian Republic was declared independant, and Braydon begun to prepare for a battle, hoping that the English underestimate him and that the Dutch, to whom he sent his son and some others for negotiations, agree to help. The first English attempt to reclaim the colony was defeated in a close-ran battle at Jamestown, mostly because Virginians knew the land much better and because Braydon turned out to be a pretty decent commander, not to mention charismatic. But the second expedition would have probably beaten Virginia into submission, especially as the Indians Struck Back, and only barely were defeated. Luckily, the Dutch, in the face of first the kapiten-generaal Ruseveldt of New Holland and then staholder William III proved only too happy to cause some troubles for the English, albeit they were concerned with the possible bad precedent, and as it was increasingly obvious that a new war would come very soon they agreed to lend assistance to Virginia, first in the form of funds and arms. And then the war came, the Dutch fleet fared not as well as previously but nonetheless, Virginia survived its early years and the English grudgingly agreed to abandon the colony.
But even before that, the English gave priority to New England, developing this colony greatly. But as it became increasingly boxed-in, strife begun to rise with France... To avoid this, the English king Charles III decided to create a colony in the Carolinas, hoping to distract some of the immigration from New England. Said colony (in OTL South Carolina), set up in 1678, was lost to the Dutch during the Rhenish War, but later returned. By 1700, that colony greatly expanded north and south, but this caused even more problems with Virginia, which also was very much expansionist.
The French were, however, the greatest colonial power of the time. Their vast colonial empire was rather underpopulated, but nonetheless prospering - New France, Pays d'en Haut, Radissonia (OTL Prince Rupert's Land - here, the English colonialism is weaker, not to mention that Prince Rupert himself continued to be a military commander, whilst Pierre Esprit Radisson, the mastermind behind the creation of the colony, for butterfly reasons, was not antagonized by French colonial authorities and instead created the French Hudson Bay Company), Louisiana, countless Carribean islands and Indian trade posts including the jewel in the French crown - Madras. But what was alarming was the small amount of immigration - mostly some Catholic Belgians and the rare Irishman, with a small percentage of Frenchmen - due to which the majority of the population was local-born and thus had a lower sense of loyalty...
Portuguese empire was definitely in decline, as was the Spanish one, albeit Spaniards did not lose much more territory during this time, even expanded against the natives. However, close to the end of the century, a very irritating incident happens some silly Scottish colonists built, well, a colony in Darien (different from OTL - the "culprit" ITTL is the Scottish West Indies Company, directed by David Bruce). There were many hardships, yadda yadda yadda, but eventually with a bit of Dutch help (Holland being a Scottish ally) the colony begun to prosper somehwat due to trade, and beat back a Spanish expedition sent to claim it. Eventually, the Treaty of Panama settled the conflict - Darien and a nearby area east of Maje Mountains and north of Sapo Mountains was purchased by the Scottish Republic, but Spain got trade priveleges and right of passage. This was exemplary of the weakness of Spanish government at the time...
Russian expansion during this era has reached the Pacific Ocean and fur trade, combined with the Troubles in Russia Proper, drew many settlers, as numerous cities were built. A limited border war with China was fought for over a decade, during which the Russians won a victory, using the unpreparedness of Qing Chinese forces for a war in the region combined with the good use of Cossacks; more experienced Russian forces secured Amur and Ussuri regions, and defeated the outdated Qing armies. However, Manchuria was succesfully defended, and albeit the Treaty of Ninguta did acknowledge the Russian gains, the Qing dreamed of revenge - if only because this defeat was immediately followed up by rebellions - it seemed to their enemies as if the Qing already lost the Heavenly Mandate. Emperor Kangxi put the rebellions down, however, and used the defeat to persuade the conservatives in the need for reform. Closer contact was established with the foreigners, especially the Dutch, numerous military reforms were undertaken... Kangxi's China quickly caught up and prepared for the next war. In the meantime, its newly-reformed, modernized army armed with new weapons, with some foreign military advisors - never prominent but still useful - begun testing its strenght in wars with the western Turkic tribes, extending the Qing realm west against the Dzungars, gaining Tibet and Qinghai.
The Mauryan Empire increasingly threatened to fall apart under the strain of rebellions, but not much change from OTL yet...
In Southeast Asia, not much changed from OTL - apart from in Siam and Myanmar. During the three "Anglo-Dutch Wars", England and France did their best to win over Siam to their side, and King Narai for his part, in spite of some hostility at the court, did HIS best to improve relations with France, encouraging modernization of Siam (OOC: as the French are much more concerned with counter-balancing Dutch power here then with extending their own, they don't act as arrogantly as in OTL and thus do not provoke the rise of a large anti-Westerner movement in Siam). Albeit the Dutch remain influential in Siam, the Siamese increasingly begin to trade with France and England - but this, as of yet, is not enough to break the Dutch economic strenght in the region. Militarily, the Siamese fare very well against their traditional enemies, routing and eventually conquering Myanmar.
IC:
1649-1700. The Colonies, the sea and the Far East.
Dissent, as said, was growing in Europe. But more on the precise dissent later - it is now more important that we note that, the way it was, many people were unhappy in Europe - out of social problems, disease, overpopulation, political grievances, many other reasons. That was why during the late 17th century especially, many Europeans moved out. It was easier, to some extent, for the Russians, who had vast eastern lands to colonize. In Central Europe, locked in as it was, things were the hardest, albeit during the Thirty Years War many Germans fled for other European colonies in America. The five prime colonial powers in the Americas were England, France, Holland, Spain and Portugal - those were the ones who emerged victorious in the early colonial wars. But needless to say, the Spanish were now the weakest, which had certain reprecussions.
But for now, we will have to examine a certain important naval and colonial struggle. Spurred by commercial interests and by geography, Netherlands and England were increasingly hostile. Trade and colonies were the primary matters. Charles I, until his death in 1657, did not want to risk a war - his situation at home was too precarious to risk it. Charles II, however, was young and restless, and felt that he could decrease dissent by a strong foreign policy. Thus the antagonization of Holland, which resulted in the Second Act of Navigation, which unlike the 14th century one was earnest. It greatly limited foreign trade, in hopes to strengthen England's own commerce, and to provoke the Dutch into agression. First Anglo-Dutch War, an ill-planned, ill-executed war, was a great debacle; the English only won the very first battle, at Texel. All other battles were grand victories of Maarten Tromp, and France, which generally was pro-English, nonetheless refused to intervenne. The defeat persuaded Charles to make reforms and to prepare for another war; he managed to skillfully use the growing tensions between France and Sweden to ally with France against the Swedish allies in Holland in 1666. The Second Anglo-Dutch War was rather better known as the Eight Years War, the first big European war since the Thirty Years one, but for now we should study the naval and colonial sides of the war. Tromp was already dead by then, but he had a worthy successor - Michiel Ruyter. Against him fought a worthy man, however - Admiral Gerard (OOC: ATL person who might have existed in OTL for all I know and care. All English admirals of the time I found so far were Parliamentaries in the ECW, and that makes them... unacceptable for such an important role). Two admirals could hardly gain an upper hand - their initial battles were all indecisive apart from Ruyter's minor defeat at Penzance. The decisive battle came in 1668 - at Cape Finisterre, where Ruyter moved to intercept the English forces sent to reinforce the militias in North America. Gerard commanded the escort fleet. In the tight battle, Ruyter won largely due to luck - the weather was rotten, and albeit this caused him much hardship it also damaged the French fleet sent to help the English and delayed its arrival. The superior disciplinne of the Dutch sailors was also important, but either way, Gerard died in battle, the English transports were mostly destroyed and the English fleet scattered. The French arrived too late to save anything, and - here, Ruyter's skill and the disciplinne of his men became especially important, for the French resolve broke due to seeming "unshakability" of the Dutch - too were defeated. The Swedish fleet then joined the Dutch one back in Holland and in 1671 defeated an Anglo-French attempt of a maritime invasion of Netherlands at Waddenzee.
In North America, New Holland was a rather insignificant colony until it begun to receive much immigration in 1640s - especially Huguenot and English (mostly radical Parliamentarist - many Parliamentarists fled to Scotland, but some chose Holland instead, or rather its colonies). This brought more attention to it, and it extended along the Hudson River towards Fort Oranje, an important fur trade outpost. Furthermore, in 1665, the Dutch, after a series of colonial border conflicts with the English to the north, have sent a small amount of troops - those troops would prove crucial while Ruyter first delayed and later destroyed the English reinforcements. The early English attacks on Fort Oranje and New Amsterdam were repulsed, and in 1673 Newport was captured. It was returned by the Treaty of Westphalia the next year, but the same treaty confirmed River Connecticut as the border between New Holland and New England; needless to say most of those colonies were, in the 17th century at least, under native control. Further south, the Dutch and the Spanish, well, mostly the Dutch ofcourse, succesfully defended the Dutch and Spanish possessions from Anglo-French forces, and captured several important possessions, including Barbados - all those were "ransomed" back at Westphalia. And further south was one of the greatest Dutch colonies - Dutch, or North, Brazil with the capital in Mauritsstad (OTL Recife). Often threatened by Portuguese rebellions, it was somehow pacified by the capable administration of Johan Maurits, but as in 1666 Portugal stood on the English side, a new wave of uprisings begun. Some sort of control was maintained in the crucial cities, whilst maritime landings secured English Essequibo and French Cayenne in Guinea. These territories remained Dutch after the war, and Maurits managed, after the rebellion was put down in 1673, to persuade the stadholder in the need of better government "if we are to retain this rich land" - basically, what was meant that the Calvinist ministers are restrained in their vigour and that the rights of the Portuguese plantation owners are guaranteed. Revolt risk was not eliminated, but after some reforms took place, combined with increasing Huguenot immigration, well, things got better. Meanwhile, in a land far, far away, this war was also fought. That land was called "India". The Dutch fleet there scored several victories over the Portuguese one and its English allies, and captured several of their trade posts, but the only significant territorial change at Westphalia was the annexation of East Timor and Portuguese holdings in Ceylon by Netherlands; most other gains were abandoned, albeit Dutch primacy in Indonesia was acknowledged.
Another European war - the First Rhenish War - also involved some fighting in the colonies, but no changes came apart from the confirmed independance of Virginia - in the years preceding the war, in 1681 to be exact, a rebellion begun in Virginia over policy towards Amerinds; the governor, William Berkley, wanted greater trade and good relations with the natives, namely Powhatans. A charismatic local colonist, one of the Parliamentarian supporters who nonetheless like those French Huguenots who moved to Quebec decided to settle in Virginia, by the name of Thomas Braydon, wanted further expansion instead, to win lands for Virginia's growing population. He assembled a reasonably-large force of volunteers, and when Berkley declared this to be rebellion, Braydon... rebelled. (OOC: in OTL, a rather similar incident took place earlier, the rebellion actually succeeded but fell apart just after that, because its leader was promptly assassinated by the penguins. Here, we have a different leader, a different time and the penguins distracted elsewhere.) In a ferocious bloodbath that followed, drunken (according to some accounts) colonists overran Berkley's mostly-unenthusiastic followers and then also beat up some Amerinds. After sobering up, proverbially and perhaps literally, the colonists realized that they just killed their governor and defeated the local garrisons. Braydon, as already said a Parliamentarian, nonetheless knew quite well that the English wouldn't stand for this, and also knew that they won't really ask questions at all. Some of the more Royalist colonists refused, but Braydon's fellow Parliamentarians grouped up with local opportunists and those who wanted greater self-government - a fairly large percentage of the colonists was persuaded by Braydon's rhetoric. The Virginian Republic was declared independant, and Braydon begun to prepare for a battle, hoping that the English underestimate him and that the Dutch, to whom he sent his son and some others for negotiations, agree to help. The first English attempt to reclaim the colony was defeated in a close-ran battle at Jamestown, mostly because Virginians knew the land much better and because Braydon turned out to be a pretty decent commander, not to mention charismatic. But the second expedition would have probably beaten Virginia into submission, especially as the Indians Struck Back, and only barely were defeated. Luckily, the Dutch, in the face of first the kapiten-generaal Ruseveldt of New Holland and then staholder William III proved only too happy to cause some troubles for the English, albeit they were concerned with the possible bad precedent, and as it was increasingly obvious that a new war would come very soon they agreed to lend assistance to Virginia, first in the form of funds and arms. And then the war came, the Dutch fleet fared not as well as previously but nonetheless, Virginia survived its early years and the English grudgingly agreed to abandon the colony.
But even before that, the English gave priority to New England, developing this colony greatly. But as it became increasingly boxed-in, strife begun to rise with France... To avoid this, the English king Charles III decided to create a colony in the Carolinas, hoping to distract some of the immigration from New England. Said colony (in OTL South Carolina), set up in 1678, was lost to the Dutch during the Rhenish War, but later returned. By 1700, that colony greatly expanded north and south, but this caused even more problems with Virginia, which also was very much expansionist.
The French were, however, the greatest colonial power of the time. Their vast colonial empire was rather underpopulated, but nonetheless prospering - New France, Pays d'en Haut, Radissonia (OTL Prince Rupert's Land - here, the English colonialism is weaker, not to mention that Prince Rupert himself continued to be a military commander, whilst Pierre Esprit Radisson, the mastermind behind the creation of the colony, for butterfly reasons, was not antagonized by French colonial authorities and instead created the French Hudson Bay Company), Louisiana, countless Carribean islands and Indian trade posts including the jewel in the French crown - Madras. But what was alarming was the small amount of immigration - mostly some Catholic Belgians and the rare Irishman, with a small percentage of Frenchmen - due to which the majority of the population was local-born and thus had a lower sense of loyalty...
Portuguese empire was definitely in decline, as was the Spanish one, albeit Spaniards did not lose much more territory during this time, even expanded against the natives. However, close to the end of the century, a very irritating incident happens some silly Scottish colonists built, well, a colony in Darien (different from OTL - the "culprit" ITTL is the Scottish West Indies Company, directed by David Bruce). There were many hardships, yadda yadda yadda, but eventually with a bit of Dutch help (Holland being a Scottish ally) the colony begun to prosper somehwat due to trade, and beat back a Spanish expedition sent to claim it. Eventually, the Treaty of Panama settled the conflict - Darien and a nearby area east of Maje Mountains and north of Sapo Mountains was purchased by the Scottish Republic, but Spain got trade priveleges and right of passage. This was exemplary of the weakness of Spanish government at the time...
Russian expansion during this era has reached the Pacific Ocean and fur trade, combined with the Troubles in Russia Proper, drew many settlers, as numerous cities were built. A limited border war with China was fought for over a decade, during which the Russians won a victory, using the unpreparedness of Qing Chinese forces for a war in the region combined with the good use of Cossacks; more experienced Russian forces secured Amur and Ussuri regions, and defeated the outdated Qing armies. However, Manchuria was succesfully defended, and albeit the Treaty of Ninguta did acknowledge the Russian gains, the Qing dreamed of revenge - if only because this defeat was immediately followed up by rebellions - it seemed to their enemies as if the Qing already lost the Heavenly Mandate. Emperor Kangxi put the rebellions down, however, and used the defeat to persuade the conservatives in the need for reform. Closer contact was established with the foreigners, especially the Dutch, numerous military reforms were undertaken... Kangxi's China quickly caught up and prepared for the next war. In the meantime, its newly-reformed, modernized army armed with new weapons, with some foreign military advisors - never prominent but still useful - begun testing its strenght in wars with the western Turkic tribes, extending the Qing realm west against the Dzungars, gaining Tibet and Qinghai.
The Mauryan Empire increasingly threatened to fall apart under the strain of rebellions, but not much change from OTL yet...
In Southeast Asia, not much changed from OTL - apart from in Siam and Myanmar. During the three "Anglo-Dutch Wars", England and France did their best to win over Siam to their side, and King Narai for his part, in spite of some hostility at the court, did HIS best to improve relations with France, encouraging modernization of Siam (OOC: as the French are much more concerned with counter-balancing Dutch power here then with extending their own, they don't act as arrogantly as in OTL and thus do not provoke the rise of a large anti-Westerner movement in Siam). Albeit the Dutch remain influential in Siam, the Siamese increasingly begin to trade with France and England - but this, as of yet, is not enough to break the Dutch economic strenght in the region. Militarily, the Siamese fare very well against their traditional enemies, routing and eventually conquering Myanmar.
Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
Excelent work once again. Is Ireland a republic like Scotland?
Is Ireland a republic like Scotland?
das
Regeneration In Process
Ireland is partitioned between England and Scotland. Scotland has Ulster, England has the rest, the people in South Ireland are divided on whether to try for independance or to join Scotland.
Am working on the European part. As I already hinted, Sweden and France are the most important powers there, and each has many allies.
Am working on the European part. As I already hinted, Sweden and France are the most important powers there, and each has many allies.
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