Tani Coyote
Son of Huehuecoyotl
- Joined
- May 28, 2007
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Chapter XIII: Hegemon of the Mediterranean(1456 - 1459)
Spoiler :
1456
January, Castile broke it's alliance with Venice. Alas, they would have been excellent puppets in a war between Venice and Aragon.
February, Venice was able to fabricate claims to Aragonese territory, and war was declared immediately. Casanova was given orders to invade Sicily, while the rest of the army would take over the Mediterranean islands.
Portugal and Salzburg backed up Aragon, however, and so Casanova was ordered to take 7,000 cavalry and destroy the Archbishopric. Meanwhile, the rest of Venice's forces would occupy the Mediterranean.
April, at the Battle of Gorz, Casanova lost only 72 men and wiped out 3,000 Salzburger troops.
By June, all of Salzburg's army in Krain and Karnten was wiped out, and Casanova was ordered to march through Tirol and occupy Salzburg itself.
October, Portugal accepted a white peace, removing their considerable naval assets from the war.
Later in October, Salzburg's main army was destroyed, though 1,000 of their troops had escaped to harass Gorz. Casanova gave chase.
December, Foscarini arranged the sale of special titles and priveleges - without the destruction of state power - to several notables, gaining him a large war chest.
1457
January, with an influx of tax revenue, Foscarini commissioned missionaries all across the Turkish provinces.
In the last days of January, the Battles of Gorz and Karnten eliminated the last Salzburger troops. As a result, only Aragon's forces remained. Even so, Aragon boasted 20,000+ troops, showing they'd be difficult to defeat.
March, the fall of Corsica forced the Aragonese fleet of Cogs in Corsica's harbors to enter the open waters with the Venetian war fleet, 13 ships strong.
June, all of Aragon's cogs were wiped out. Wherever the Aragonese fleet was stranded - they had not attacked Aydin's less-than-1,000-man force in Girona - they were going to stay there.
August, Salzburg and Karnten fell simultaneously thanks to Casanova's brilliance. The Archbishop was ordered to give up his secular authority, and a merchant republic established in the Archbishopric's place. This Republic would be under the Venetian sphere of influence and be entitled to Venice's protection in exchange for regular shipments of troops and funds to the Serenissima.
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Now that Aragon's German ally was crushed, Aragon itself was ripe for the taking. All troops headed west to board transports bound for the numerous Aragonese territories.
October, France annexed Provence. This would make acquisition of the area that much easier.
Late October, Doge Foscarini abdicated under pressure from the Council of Ten, and Pasquale Malipiero took his place. Foscarini died a week later, and so Foscarini was given a state funeral as a result of the public uproar.
November, the lone regiment on the Baleares was wiped out by Casanova and his 10,000 man invasion force.
December 23, just in time for Christmas, the heretics of Edirne were converted to Catholicism. The former capital of the Turks now had a culture and religion drastically different from theirs.
1458
March, as thousands of Venetian troops landed in Aragon proper, Thrace finally embraced Catholicism. The authority of the Byzantine Patriarch was forever weakened, and he became little more than a figurehead for a minority.
April, 4 Aragonese regiments were wiped out in Barcelona, yet Aragon still maintained 19,000 soldiers, likely in their African provinces.
September, years after the start of the war, Venice's stability returned to +3. The loss of the Curia had greatly harmed Venice's ability to rapidly stabilise.
Late September, Karaman converted to Catholicism as the Balearic Islands were seized by Venice.
October, Barcelona fell. Troops were en route to Aragon to defeat the massive heretic revolt that had sprouted up. Religious radicals had risen up and claimed that Aragon's massive defeat was because the current religious policies were an offense to God. Peasants, being ignorant and desperate for answers, believed this nonsense, never mind the fact Venice was superior in just about every strategic way.
November, the heretics in Girona were exterminated, with their general's efforts to be futile. He was extradited to Rome and executed for heresy. Casanova was ordered south to repel the Heretic army from Valencia and to capture the other two leaders of the Heretic movement.
November 28, Bursa converted to Christianity, leaving only Bithynia under non-Catholic influences.
1459
Mid-January, Gerhard Maxa's heretic movement was crushed and thousands killed in the Battle of Alicante, mostly on the heretic side. Maxa and his inner circle were sent to Rome and given the usual treatment.
February, Alicante and Girona both were occupied by the Republic's military might.
Late February, the conversion of Bithynia eradicated Islam from Venice's Turkish provinces and the Dardanelles. In fact, only Judea remained dominantly non-Catholic.
July, the province of Aragón was occupied by Venice. Aragon had been sufficiently humbled for the Doge to send a very humiliating peace offer to them.
And the King of Aragon accepted. Aragon shed it's Mediterranean territories, and now focused exclusively on maintaining the Maghrebi colony.
At long last, the Iberian scourge had been driven from Italy. All of Aragon's vast Mediterranean empire had neatly reformed into Venice's own.
But despite her efforts over 60 years, some of Italy remained free from Venice's enlightened rule.
..Mantua. Having attacked Venice long ago in a foolish attempt to expand it's domains, Mantua was ripe for the picking. Plans were made to invade the small state, but only after the Holy Roman Emperorship was vested in a country less threatening.
Of course, Doge Malipiero soon realised that France's independence had been guaranteed by England, Castile, Aragon, AND Burgundy, as a deterrent against an attack, as the destruction of France by any power would radically alter the balance in Western Europe.
...The power to violate this attempt at balance was Burgundy, which now had the Castilian forces incoming.
With Burgundy against the Castilians and French, it was reasoned that Venice could steal Mantua and make peace with Burgundy before any serious damage could be done.
August, an alliance was signed with Salzburg. Their resources would come in handy.
September, war was declared against Mantua, with Switzerland and Burgundy supporting the Mantovans. It would be a bloody conflict...
September 21, Mantua's army was destroyed and the city was besieged.
December, the Burgundian hordes made peace with England, seizing Oxfordshire and Cornwall. Only 2,000 of the enemy forces were Swiss, the remaining 90,000+ were Burgundian.
