In the Name of the Most Serene Empire; a EU3 IN Venice AAR

[IronMan2055]

I find it funny that you'd demand the release of a NA country...and they'd agree. XD

 

[Tani Coyote]

I find it funny that you'd demand the release of a NA country...and they'd agree. XD

Said NA country broke the alliance right after New Years'... but no matter. The fact they're Catholic now(I assume) will at least protect them from being WTFpwned in the near future.

What's stranger is that I only had 86% warscore yet they agreed to a 100% deal... I think that, if it's situation is desperate enough, an AI will go above what you've actually won over them, but never above 100% warscore.

I'm surprised they didn't take your caribbean colonies.

I know... I thought I was going to have to fight for Trinidad, but I guess not. What was more odd was that even after I demolished and steamrolled their forces in Africa and Europe, the enemy still had a few tens of thousands of troops running around... I guess they've fallen into the trap of placing much of their army overseas...

Oh well, I'm not complaining. Andalucia and Lisboa will be mine that much quicker!

 

[Tani Coyote]

Chapter XXXVIII: More European Wars ( 1549 - 1556 )​

Spoiler :

1549​

January, it became apparent that a network of encircling alliances was forming around Italy's empire. Castile, for instance, was allied with Portugal, Hungary, Poland and Lithuania. Hungary, in turn, was guaranteed by Poland and allied with Lithuania. Portugal was allied with England, while England was also allied with Sweden. In effect, the Great Powers of Europe had all come together in some way or another.

It would thus be Vittore I's goal to tear the European alliance apart one piece at time, by exploiting technicalities.

April, Vittore I annexed Bosnia, his claims to Osijek realised. Italy now had a much more unified front in the East. The annexation, of course, caused rebellions in France and Germany.

July, Emperor Vittore I arranged a Great Commercial Reform, building vast marketplaces all throughout Italy.

By August, the revolt in Danzig had been put down at the Battle of Warmia.

And that was shortly followed by a victory in Nevers, exterminating the nationalist movements.

King Jean III of Dauphine was excommunicated on August 5, 1549. Troops were ordered to prepare an assault against France, Armagnac, Hungary and Dauphine.

September, a full network of alliances formed.

By September 30, Dauphine's army was destroyed.

December, just in time for Christmas, Hamburg and Vienna embraced Catholicism.

1550​

January, with a new government advance, the Emperor decreed Italy would join Castile and Portugal in exploring the New World.

February, the main French Army was defeated in Hainaut.

March, Sweden inherited the throne of Trier, gaining a new territory in Germany.

May, after the occupation of Provence - capital of Dauphine - reports of people fleeing to the colonies were heard.

Provence was soon annexed by the Italian Empire.

August of 1550, Emperor Vittore I finally passed away, after decades of rule. The father of Italy was dead, but his son Antonio - the "Son of Italy" - would do his legacy good. As shown by how the Toulousians and Electors chose Antonio to be their ruler. Antonio himself was fairly well at administration and diplomacy, but was a very militaristic ruler, hence why he would later be called "Antonio the Fierce" by friends and "Antonio the Bloodthirsty" and "Antonio the Warmonger" by his foes.

September, Armagnac's military force that was attacking the French provinces was destroyed. Italy had lost one province to Armagnac, and all troops were ordered to retake it accordingly, before invading the Reformist stronghold.

November, Trinidad finally reached self-sustaining status.

December, both East Anglia and Elsass embraced Catholicism anew.

1551​

January, the Partium fell. Accordingly, Hungary was vassalised and forced to renounce all claim outside it's territory in exchange for peace. The King of Hungary abdicated his role as King, declaring himself the Duke of Hungary.

February, the colony of Antigua was established in the Caribbean.

Later in February, Italy pressed claims to Tripolitianian Sirt.

March, Mainz embraced Catholicism.

October, Armagnac surrendered, turning over Vermandois and Navarra - giving Perineo a coastline - to Italy. They also paid 75 ducats.

France soon surrendered as well, turning over Franche-Comte, Lyonnais, and Caux. They also paid 25 ducats while renouncing numerous claims.

1552​

January, troops attacked Toulousian Valenciennes to end the noble revolt there. The noble army was crushed in a great battle, and the fortress besieged.

March, Valenciennes was returned to Toulousian rule.

August, Pfalz was converted to Catholicism.

September, Persia pressed claims to the Syrian provinces.

In turn, Italy pressed claims to Najd later in September.

November, Anjou was claimed as part of Italy's territory.

Later in November, cultural differences took their toll upon the personal union of Toulouse and Italy.

1553​

January, while Italy's reputation was still rather tarnished, the Emperor realised that he had to make his mark on the history books for contributing to Italy's greatness. He saw Castile - the only other Empire in Europe - as that target. At 0 stability and still reeling from it's last spanking, he knew just how to strike.

War was declared upon Granada, the Emperor not caring for stability hits that a country would take for attacking fellow Catholics.

The resulting alliance of Italy, Toulouse, Galicia, Pommerania, Hungary, and Morocco against Granada, Castile, Portugal, Ireland, and the Papal State was heavily in the Italian Alliance's favor.

Later in January, Granada's 3,000 soldiers were easily wiped out.

April, Gibraltar was occupied, and Granada signed a peace treaty in exchange for the Rock being given to Italy.

September, it was reasoned that the natives of the colonies had to be treated well to maintain the colonies, and so attempts were made to halt the pain they were enduring from foreign diseases.

October, Greek nationalists in Rhodes were crushed, and a siege began to return control of the island to Toulouse.

October 24, a local bailiff was executed for his worldly excesses.

November, Ireland agreed to a white peace.

Later in November, a boundary dispute erupted, granting Italy a core on Warsaw.

December, the last of the legendary priests died.

1554​

July, Rhodes was returned to Toulouse.

More importantly, July saw the last province of mainland Castile fall under Italian occupation.

December, stability returned to +3, while much of Castilian Africa was being occupied.

1555​

September, even with all of Castilian Africa and all of Iberia in Italian hands, Castile still did not gvie Italy a 100% warscore. Accordingly, a suicide mission was planned. Troops would board 13 Cogs and Flytes, and attempt to sneak past the large Castilian and Portuguese patrols, to invade the Canary and Madeira Islands.

October, General di Busca and 11,000 infantry, supported by 1,000 soldiers who specifically wielded cannons, began to board transports headed for the Madeira Islands.

November, General Rovigo passed away.

1556​

In the first days of the year, the Madeira Islands were captured for Italy. Di Busca had succeeded in his mission, but he also needed to take the Canary Islands, which were protected by a fleet of ships, even if they were flytes.

March, the Canary Islands were invaded, while the fleet of flytes that were guarding the islands were defeated, with one of the five ships being captured.

Later in March, the Canary Islands were seized.

April, peace was signed with Castile when it became apparent they would not yield. As a result, Italy gained 8 badboy, but also seized the entire coast of Castilian Africa apart from a blowhole in Kabylia.

The Anti-Pope was annexed shortly afterwards.

Portugal than capitulated by ceding Algarve and ceding the rest of the former Aragonese crown to Italy.

Italy had come out ahead in the war against Iberia, but at a horrific coast: Italy now had a very bad reputation(22.24) and would have to be on her toes.

June, Antigua was finally fully colonised, integrating the 2,000 local natives into it's citizenry.

With 1556's end, another great victory had been won over the Iberian hordes and another anti-Pope had met his end. Now, Italy would spend it's time building up its infrastructure so that when her reputation had cooled down, she would be even mightier than before!

 

[Tani Coyote]

Any ideas on where I should go next? European wars are obviously out of the question for now.

My idea is to deploy a force of about 10,000 men in the New World and crush all pagan nations there. I get 0 BB for a declaration of war and 0 BB for annexing them, and so they'd be an excellent target while I let my reputation recover. It would also give me a base of operations against the Iberian colonies in the New World.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Mediteranean lake?

 

[Tee Kay]

Venezuela.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Chapter XXXIX: Pax Italiana ( 1557 - 1562 )​

Spoiler :

1557​

January, the Emperor sent diplomatic missions to the monarchist, Catholic states of the Holy Roman Empire. He would use royal marriages to try and bring them into the Italian sphere of influence.

June, 15 Caravels and 3 Barques assembled in Tangiers from the corners of the empire were combined into a single fleet, to better battle the Portuguese and Castilian fleets in the future.

November, a victory against Navarrese nationalists sent them towards Castilian Navarre.

December, it was decided to put more emphasis on quality than quantity of Italian troops. A new commandant joined the ranks accordingly, and was hired to replace one of the worthless diplomatic advisors.

1558​

March, the Italian monopoly of the Curia was used to call for a crusade against the Persian Empire.

November, nationalists in Avignon were trampled by Italian cavalry and torn apart by artillery.

1559​

February, Antonio I had all artillery replaced with Chambered Demi Cannons.



September 26, war was declared upon the Mayans, and their Zapotec overlords chose to protect them, the fools.

Altogether, they had 14,000 troops, all infantry and low-technology. The Emperor explained that he had secretly transported 14,000 troops of his own of varying talents and weaponry to the New World, and they were disembarking onto the beaches of Central America as he spoke.

By October, it appeared the enemy was wealthy with riches, however, as three spies had tried to support revolts in the New World colonies. These spies would be joined by countless more in further months.

November, Mayan Honduras was captured and occupied, and the Mayans escaped annexation by merit of being a vassal.

1560​

January, Roma embraced Lombard culture, and Umbrian culture was banished from the peninsula.

April, Isodoro Galilei won a huge victory over the Zapotecs on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, taking control of one of their provinces, and crushing 6,000 enemy soldiers.

However, Galilei was fairly inexperienced at exploring the land, and so another general, Leopoldo della Roverre, experienced at such things, was appointed as a co-commander.

1561​

April 30, after much ping-ponging over control of the provinces, all of Zapotec's empire was occupied by Italy.

They were promptly annexed, and the Mayans survived via technicalities.

Later in the year, 10,000 soldiers under Della Roverre were ordered to seek out other native "empires", if there were any.

And by November, he had found something quite interesting... the Inca. Greeting them as a friendly foreigner, Della Roverre learned more about the Inca. Their empire was rich in gold and quite vast... and upon hearing these comments, Della Roverre ordered his musketeers to shoot the people he had just met. War broke out between the Incans and the Italians, and Della Roverre was determined to win another empire's resources for his Emperor.

1562​

January, Astrakhan finally absorbed the Golden Horde.

December, with the fall of the last Incan province, the pagans were crushed and annexed into the Italian Empire.

And with 1562's end, Italy's reputation had greatly recovered despite her absorption of two large overseas empires. More importantly, Antonio I earned his title as "the Conqueror", having not only done his father's ambitions on the Iberians well, but having greatly swelled the size of the overseas empire.

 

[sophie]

So what's next? Back to Europe-bashing, or more American conquests? Or perhaps destroying the Middle East?

 

[Serutan]

Portugal has lots of colonies that are just begging to be snarfed up...

 

[Tani Coyote]

So what's next? Back to Europe-bashing, or more American conquests? Or perhaps destroying the Middle East?

All the American conquests are dry now, as the only remaining states are the Shawnee(?) that I released from Portugal and are Catholic(thus no easy war/annex), and then there's the Iroquois, who have been chopped up by Portugal and are too far inland. The Eastern Seaboard is Iberian, for now...

In the latest chapter, I have launched an assault upon Tripoli to relieve the huge prestige hits I suffer yearly from uncontested cores. As a result, Oman, Tripoli, and Songhai have been sliced up, while the Turks are no more!

I am currently improving relations with the Catholic kingdoms of Europe, besides the obvious foes(Castile and Portugal). This primarily means Luxemburg. I have +200 relations with Poland and Lithuania, and I hope that one day one of their rulers dies and passes the throne on to me. Then I'd be unstoppable.

However, I am ever eager to punish the Iberians and Protestants of Europe... I think I just might trample on England and Sweden in the future.

Alternatively, I could go to war with Persia, which contains three of my cores. However, they have a diverse alliance network, and they also have spread out colonies(the East coast of Africa)... but with enough tactics and a sufficient military buildup, I think I could break them.

Mediteranean lake?

Already in progress, as to be seen in my next chapter.

Venezuela.

Well we are stretching our colonies from Panama to Peru, so I could slip in Venezuala eventually... I did take Maracaibo, and the accursed Castilians have arrived nearby.

Portugal has lots of colonies that are just begging to be snarfed up...

In due time, in due time... First I want to Catholicise the pagan provinces of the Inca and Zapotec Empires, and build a secure base there. Judging by the little resistance I've faced in Iberia in my last two wars, chances are 20,000+ troops are located within the Iberian colonies, and if I'm not careful, I could lose Mexico and Peru. I will destroy the Iberian powers eventually... I mean, it's the least I could do to thank them for oh so graciously remaining constant allies...

 

[IronMan2055]

Eastern Africa campaign perhaps?

 

[Tani Coyote]

Chapter XL: The African Adventure ( 1563 - 1564 )​

Spoiler :

1563​

As of January, Italy had 16 cores outside her territory, and the prestige hit from so many uncontested claims - 4.8 a year - was constantly forcing repairs to the prestigious aura centered on Rome.

Accordingly, a war had to be devised.

Italy had claims to Polish and Lithuanian cities, but as both kingdoms had warm relations to Italy, that was not an option.

Italy had claims on many of her neighbors, from England and Granada to France, Friesland and Thuringia. Some enemies stuck out like sore thumbs, however.

One example was Tripoli. Though Tripoli was aligned with the Muslim powers of Africa, Italy had claims to the eastern half of Tripoli, and could use a war with her to gain strength across the continent, as well as seal off a front when Italy inevitably warred upon Persia.

So, war was declared upon Tripoli. The Turks, Songhai, Swahili, and Oman rallied to their side.

June, as flames engulfed Songhai's vast empire, Panama was successfully colonised.

July, Tripoli accepted a peace treaty in exchange for the cession of Sirt to Italy.

August, Italy annexed the Ottoman "Empire." At long last, the Turks had been vanquished.

1564​

April, Oman surrendered two of their three provinces. The Omani people had gone a long way, having once been the sole ruler of the peninsula to being a city-state centered on Muscat.

May, the Songhai Empire's Western half collapsed.

Shortly post-war, Songhai's trade center was dismantled.

Antonio I had sated his thirst for Muslim blood, or at least the Sunni variety...

 

[Tani Coyote]

Chapter XLI: The Great Crusade ( 1565 - 1568 )​

Spoiler :

1565​

January, with new tax revenues collected, Antonio set his eyes upon the Safavids of the East. For too long had they engaged in border skirmishes with Italia over the vast Eastern deserts. Italians had once conquered the rivers Tigris and Euphrates before, and Antonio was determined to make that happen once more.

War was declared in January, after a massive troop buildup along the eastern border.

The Persian hordes were mostly composed of infantry, and being backwards in equipment and tactics, Italy's leadership and numbers would surely triumph over the Shi'ite Empire.

June 21, the bloody battle of the regions around Baghdad resulted in an Italian victory, crippling the main army of the Persian Empire.

October, a failed harvest took it's toll on the productivity of Italian citizens.

By December, a great battle in Murgan reduced the Persians to 14,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry, with 2,000 supporting artillery.

1566​

February, the Battle of Khuzestan reduced Persia's alliance to 10,000 total troops.

June, Cuzco's heathens converted to Catholicism, banishing pagan ideas from the capital of the former Incan Empire.

September, Haasa and Kashmir resigned from the conflict, leaving Persia's vast empire with only 8,000 soldiers.

1567​

By August, all of Persia's large realm had been explored, and so much of it was conquered that...

The Persian Shahanshah accepted a humiliating treaty. The Persians were driven out of Mesopotamia and Turkey.

But just as the dust settled, Antonio pointed out that Astrakhan still possessed territories that were rightfully Italian, and opened fire upon them.

And so, a grand alliance of Astrakhan, Sibir, Nogai, Khiva and Persia formed against Italy.

November, news spread that Novgorod, acting in it's self-interest, had invaded Astrakhan as well.

December, with a single one of their provinces occupied, Khiva accepted a peace treaty with Italy and surrendered 25 ducats to the Italian Empire.

1568​

February, an offer of a white peace from Nogai was accepted.

October, the English Channel was cleansed of pirates after so long.

December, Italy seized much of northwestern Persia and also took Makran in the southeast, to act as a window on the Persian Gulf. Italy was content to leave the rest of the country to Rajputana.

Astrakhan surrendered shortly after, granting Italy her cores of Lugansk, Kouban and Lugansk, as well as the Catholic province of Crimea.

1568 had brought Italy vast new territories, and put her on the border of a new rival: Rajputana.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Chapter XLII: Songhai go Bye Bye ( 1569 )​

Spoiler :

1569​

January, war was declared upon Songhai, which contained an Italian core and also had continued it's nasty habit of setting up independent trade centers.

February, Italy's mission to rule the seas was completed, signifying that the Italian Empire's fleet was larger than her enemies'.

Christmas Day, all of Songhai was occupied.

And so, on December 26, the Songhai wrote off their Western empire for good.

Italy had crushed a Muslim Empire yet again, and her domains in Africa expanded anew as she began dismantling the center of trade the Songhai had erected.

 

[IronMan2055]

That map seems to be Pre-Songhai war. They still have western territories.

 

[sophie]

That map seems to be Pre-Songhai war. They still have western territories.

Yeah, that confused me as well.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Ah yes, that map is supposed to go with the previous update... whoopsie..

 

[Tani Coyote]

Chapter XLIII: Centralising Germany Part IV ( 1571 - 1576 )​

Spoiler :

1571​

While 1570 had been a year with nothing of note, 1571 had Emperor Antonio spent 5,000+ ducats on an experimental weapons facility on the island of Sardinia. Enriched with copper, the facility's boom to the local and national economy caused it to generate an additional 17 ducats a month, meaning it would pay itself off over the course of 25 years, helping advance Italy's military technology along the way.

April, Jiangsu, a rich, wealthy province of the Ming Empire(even though they were really an administrative monarchy, not an empire like Persia, Castile and Italy), was discovered, and merchants were ordered to take up posts in the city, only to find the Chinese had closed their markets to Europeans.

1572​

A few bribes passed around in the city of Dresden made sure that the city-state of Thuringia fell peacefully into Italy's arms...

April, the last vestiges of pagan thought in the Zapotec Empire had been crushed. The whole region had been Catholicised, and firmly educated in Latin and Italian.

1573​

May, representatives from Italy met representatives of the Chinese Emperor through the Chinese vassal state of Lan Na. The reason they met via a third party was that foreigners were required to bow before the Emperor in order to gain an audience, and as European diplomats represented their monarch, this could not be done. By having the ruler of Lan Na arranged a treaty between the Ming dynasty and the Italian Empire, this rule was worked around. Accordingly, May had China and Italy open their markets to eachother, allowing a greater flow of commerce and trade.

October, Abu Sa'id II rose to power in the Khorasan region of the Persian Empire, breaking away from the Empire as it crumbled under the weight of rebellion after rebellion. As Persia struggled to take back it's territories, Nogai, Adal and Swahili attacked the Persian Empire.

1574​

February, as Italy's former foe of Persia collapsed into a power vacuum, Italy itself declared war upon Friesland.

This promptly exploded into a war with the heretical nations of Europe: France, England, Saxony and Guyenne.

March, the Toulousians occupied Guyenne, and Italy annexed it immediately.

The Battle of Wessex later in March destroyed the English army, which was weakened through low or no pay, as well as battles against rebels.

April, Saxony was occupied, but generals were told to not annex it until New Years Day.

June, Friesland was occupied as thousands of soldiers did battle with Louis XIV of France's 2,000-man force.

Later in June, the French army was destroyed as Toulouse besieged the French capital.

Reformists protested the war against the few Reformed nations of Europe by fleeing to Choco in Panama.

July, Anjou was occupied, leaving General Romeo Spinola with the sole task of tearing England apart.

December, the Hessian Duke was overthrown and executed by a band of nobles, who promptly celebrated their "republican" revolution by crafting a noble republic loyal to their interests. This prompted Emperor Antonio to go on a practical witchhunt against Italy's own nobles, out of fear of the revolutionary thoughts spreading beyond Hesse's borders. After several arrests, exiles and executions, Emperor Antonio settled down and acknowledged the new elected Prince of Hesse.

1575​

January, the Duke of Saxony was exiled to Scandinavia, the prime Reformist state of Europe. His assets were seized and redistributed amongst members of the fifth column in Leipzig and all Saxony, and his government replaced with an Italian bureaucracy.

April, Antonio showed the same diplomatic talent that his father did when instead of being angered and infuriated by a diplomat from Lithuania's rude and offensive remarks, he instead proposed closer diplomatic ties between Italy and all of her neighbors, sending small gifts to numerous rulers, backing charities within border nations, and numerous other programs, and above all making good use of warm rhetoric.

December, the King of France suffered the same fate as the Duke of Saxony, but it was hard to find a place willing to take him. The Swedes said they did not want a heretic King in their territory, as they had no interest in Protestant independence. Poland, the other country in Europe with a sizeable Protestant-Reformed population(nearly the whole country was part of a heretical movement), naturally did not want the King in their realm, which while Catholic had been able to barely maintain some stability. None of the foreigners wanted the King, and so he was deported to the one Protestant state left in Europe - Brabant, an Italian vassal.

The ex-King was found with a knife in his back later on.

1576​

November, Friesland was annexed.

December, just in time for the holiday season, England surrendered. Their nation was torn apart even further, with the Catholic congregations of Italy celebrating the coming of the Italian overlords. The Welsh were excited to be free from English rule as well, though no requests of independence would be granted.

Emperor Antonio had by far lived up to his father's legacy. He had filled the big shoes of the late Mose I, having conquered territories far and wide for Italy, while also strengthening the Imperial position war after war and annexation after annexation.

 

[Tani Coyote]

I think another Iberian War is in order...

...Especially since there's no more pesky pope to say I can't excommunicate somebody he likes.

 

[Nuka-sama]

Good story, try finishing those minors in Gaul and Germany