Update 2 - 1792
"Change is certain. Peace is followed by disturbances; departure of evil men by their return. Such recurrences should not constitute occasions for sadness but realities for awareness, so that one may be happy in the interim."
-The Book of Changes
Western Europe
King Philip of Ireland moves against the rogue parliament in Belfast this year, but the Royal Irish are met with a mixed force of Northern Irish militiamen reinforced with Dutch mercenaries. The royalist forces are repulsed and pursued, at first by both forces. The Dutch ultimately pause before pressing outside of Ulster, uncertain of how much latitude they have, but the parliamentarian forces continue south towards Dublin. Perhaps the city could have held but, on hearing of approaching enemy soldiers, Philip elected to flee the capital for France. This precipitated the collapse of the royalist forces and Dublin would fall to the Belfast Parliament, which declared the King deposed and began rolling back many of the pro-Catholic laws he instituted. But their hold over the country doesn’t extend past the east, as Catholic militias organize across the isle and Philip begs King Louis for aid in restoring his rule.
(Ireland: Stats Reshuffled)
Riots broke out against dissenters and noncomformists in Birmingham, perhaps encouraged by the local government. The rioters were predominantly recruited from industrial artisans and labourers and targeted the homes of prominent noncomformists, individuals who do not adhere to the High Anglicanism of the British government and are thereby precluded from government posts and access to prestigious universities. Over several days there was substantial property damage before troops of the local garrison arrived, taking the place of local police who had largely made token efforts to contain the mob. Dissenter pamphlets and preachers allege that the attacks were manipulated by the Anglican elite and the general harmony in Britain has suffered as a result.
(Great Britain: -1 Stability)
Henry IX’s concerns are elsewhere, as he prepares for a significant overhaul of the Royal Army. Events in the Americas, and Ireland, seem to be rapidly heading towards a renewed confrontation with France. But there are key mis-steps in the preparation of the reforms, angering many members of the aristocracy, particularly those with Whig sympathies who see the establishment of a permanent military staff as yet another effort to consolidate royal power.
(Great Britain: Enact Progressive Experimentation, Adopt Stavka, -1 Confidence England)
Personal scandals, involving an uncomfortable amount of gambling debt, and the prosecution of the war in the American colonies have combined to compel the Duc de Broglie’s resignation. His long presence at the forefront of French politics since the Nine Years’ War means there is a considerable vacuum to fill and Louis XIV now has broad authority to shift the direction of the French government in appointing his replacement. Competing factions at court have a variety of proposals to deal with resurgent rivals as it seems France’s position as hegemon slips away.
(France: Discard Hegemony)
Twisting arms, sometimes literally, de Velasco manages to secure even lower interest rates for the Spanish government in the coming year. In doing so he has concentrated an increasing amount of power in himself and a close circle of advisors and alienated much of the political elite of Spain, whose traditional avenues to petition or influence the government have been closed. Their opposition to him is by necessity bolder, and more desperate, directly petitioning the king to sack his prime minister and see a return to normal governance.
(Spain: Change Government to Despotic Monarchy, Enact Fiscal Reforms, -1 confidence Castile)
The tentative detente between Alfons V and the Aragonese Corteses (plural, because Aragon proper, Catalonia, and Valencia all had their own) collapses this year as Alfons goes right back to attempting to centralize power. Ordering their dissolution, he is able to supervise the disbandment of the Catalonian body personally, not without some help from the royal army. But Aragon and Valencia refused to comply and took with them a large part of the provincial administration. Fortunately for Alfons the army and the newly appointed junta remain loyal to him and they are the key tool needed to restore his power over Aragon either by negotiation or force.
(Aragon: Discard Feudalism, Adopt Stavka, -2 Confidence Aragon, -10% Centralization Aragon, Change Government Type to Despotic Monarchy)
Willem Casimir departs on a momentous trip to the Dutch colony in New Holland. But first he strengthens the States General, significantly expanding the electorate and releasing the Orangist stranglehold on many key assemblies. The nascent opposition, the sometimes pro-French sometimes Republican patriots, enjoy a significant presence in the government for the first time since the Nine Years’ War. Much to the relief of the absent King the reports that reach him across the Atlantic are all good, with harmony holding for the moment in the parliamentary body.
(Netherlands: Adopt National Assembly)
The death of the last of the Tuscan Grand Dukes without clear issue has seen the territory annexed to France, consolidating French control over their tributary and marking the end of the last of the independent states of northern Italy.
(France: +5% Centralization, -1 Confidence Tuscany)
The Duke of Baden warms to greater integration with the rest of the Confederation of the Rhine. While Baden retains its separate standing army he’s consented to abolish many of the separate economic and trade laws, letting the confederacy mimic the reforms recently taken in the neighboring German kingdoms.
(Confederation of the Rhine: +5% Centralization Baden, Adopt National Market)
Bavarian troops break up a nationalist meeting in Venice, but the value of the agitators they managed to capture is questionable. For the moment the Venetian movement goes underground as many of the leading figures disperse across French Italy. Lingering distinctions between Venice itself and its former terra firma continental territories serve to handicap the Italian nationalist movement in Bavaria, with the latter intimidated by the conspicuous Bavarian army drills.
(Bavaria: +1 Confidence Venetia, Adopt Military Discipline) (France: -1 Confidence Lombardy)
Eastern Europe
Austria rationalizes its administration, in the process eroding many of the autonomies given to the Slavic and Italian population of Istria.
(Austria: Enact Administrative Reform)
An uptick in economic activity across the Germanies benefits Swedish Pommerania, which controls access to a number of key rivers. As internal borders are dismantled only the Swedish tolls on these rivers and the Baltic remain.
(Swedish Pommerania: +2 Economy)
Sweden’s Riksdag makes tentative efforts to reconcile with the Finns, allowing the use of the Finnish language in regional governments and schools. Though this had been resisted for decades, as the Swedes saw them as half-civilized barbarians, this goes surprisingly well. Many of the Finnish upper-classes were already considerably Swedified and continued to use Swedish nonetheless for most of their business, ameliorating concerns in Stockholm.
(Sweden: Integrated Elites in Finland)
The Polish government’s efforts to restore industry in Prussia, involving substantial efforts to promote the region’s ship-building and foundries, engender much good will in the province towards Warsaw.
(Poland: State Arsenals in Prussia, +1 Confidence Prussia)
A reshuffling of the Polish army, breaking up many long-standing regiments in favor of mixed units, goes poorly. The most vocal critics are Bohemian, as many of them end up serving under Polish officers where before they had been in distinct organizations with proportionally more influence. But there are non-ethnic complaints as military reformers feel that much of the independent character of individual regiments has been diluted and it would be better to finish the job and reform the system entirely.
(Poland: -1 Confidence Bohemia)
Hungary establishes the Magyar Nyelvi Intézet, a government body standardizing and promoting the Magyar language. Hungarian government policies increasingly begin promoting Magyarization, seeking a sense of uniformity among the diverse cultures in the Danubian Basin, of which perhaps a third speak Hungarian as their native tongue. But this effort clashes with the powerful Polish influences in the kingdom, rejecting many Polish loan-words and causing the disenchantment of the powerful Polish lords with the new kingdom.
(Hungary: Adopt Nationalism, +1 Confidence Hungary, Transylvania, -1 Stability)
Russia embarks on an ambitious “All-Country Audit”, standardizing and reconciling differing laws between the Russian and Lithuanian halves of the country. This was moderated with a a framework to introduce local legislation and regulations and greater power for governor-generals in several Russian border territories. However the move to reform the country’s administration met surprising resistance in the Lithuanian Seimas, who pushed back against Moscow’s efforts to grant more autonomy to the Livonians by formally abolishing the Livonian Rigsdag and drastically reforming the Landtags, absorbing their legislative powers for themselves. This has made relations between Moscow and Vilnius, and throughout the western half of the Union, very tense.
(Russia-Lithuania: Enact Administrative Reform; Devolution in Livonia, Crimea, Caucasus, and Central Asia; -1 Confidence +5% Centralization in Livonia; -1 Confidence Lithuania)
In Russia itself problems arose, too. Last year’s proposals to establish industrial settlements run by state-owned serfs were implemented, though not nearly on the scale envisioned. Preparations were also made for additional military reforms, with the requirements and privileges of military service revised. The pace of reforms has begun to fatigue many in Muscovy, however, and there is a growing conservative bloc that sees further erosion of Russia’s traditional structures as unnecessary and deeply undesirable.
(Russia-Lithuania: Enact State Arsenals in Muscovy, Enact Progressive Experimentation in Muscovy, -1 Confidence Muscovy, Adopt Reactionary)
Relative peace, in the European part of the Ottoman Empire at least, have seen lingering tensions from the civil war die down in Greece. The relationship between Mahmud II’s government and the Orthodox Patriarchate remain cold, however.
(Ottoman Empire: +1 Confidence Greece)
With the Turkish heartland secured Mahmud continues to leave his mark on Ottoman governance, introducing a War Council to centralize and coordinate military efforts, another step towards keeping the Ottoman military on par with its Eastern European rivals.
(Ottoman Empire: Adopt Stavka)
Africa and Middle East
Ferdinand of Sicily backs down in Tunisia after recent military defeats, rebuilding his army but also consenting to a greater degree of autonomy in many of the interior tribes, who are for the moment placated, though the weakness of Sicilian control over Tunis is laid bare.
(Sicily: Enact Devolution in Tunisia)
French prestige gains a boost from a variety of concessions from the Ottoman government. The chief beneficiary of these are the Knights Hospitaller, better known as the Knights of Malta, whose honorary grandmaster is the French King-Emperor. It is through them that the French maintain control over their North African territories, and now it is through them that many of their initiatives in Palestine are organized. This has seen a surge of funding and support for the Knights across pro-French Europe.
(French Cyrenaica: +5% Centralization, +1 Confidence)
Seeking support against Mamluk rebels, Sultan Mahmud signs a treaty with France ceding a stretch of the Sinai peninsula, giving them control over the incomplete Suez Canal. But the treaty with the French also heralds a new wave of European interest as the Empire claims custodianship of the holy sites in Palestine, a detail not mentioned by Mahmud to his governors. But word of their sponsorship by the French has spread among the Christian population of Cyprus, emboldening them to test Turkish rule.
(Ottoman Empire: -1 Confidence Cyprus)
18,000 Turkish troops, more than half of them the modern army regiments, entered Egypt to restore order to the rebel province in late March. Their recent alliance with the French was honored with the landing of a French army at Damietta and the support of a significant fleet. The Mamluks under Murad Bey mustered a comparable size force to the Turkish component and, realizing that they could not defeat both armies fielded against them, turned their strength against Mahmud’s general, Kucuk Huseyin Pasha. Unfortunately for them the Mamluks were routed and Murad Bey killed in a pitched engagement outside Bilbeis and Turkish troops entered Cairo in May. Ibrahim Bey, learning of his co-ruler’s defeat, fled the city and went south, to Upper Egypt and then into the Sudan. French troops would secure Alexandria against Mamluk forces in the north while the Turks pushed south pursuing Ibrahim Bey out of Upper Egypt. Mahmud was merciful in his reconquest, however, and many Mamluks were given amnesty and a degree of their old authority back. This made made reestablishment of Turkish rule over Egypt go smoothly, but this is not the first time the Mamluks have revolted against Constantinople and it may not be the last.
(Ottoman Empire: -2 Irregulars, -2 Regiments, +10% Centralization Egypt, Enact Devolution in Egypt)
(France: -1 Regiment)
Shahrukh Shah’s modernization in Iran clashes with traditional forces, as his efforts to reform state finances reduce the value of many of the cushy posts held by the nobility. His efforts to establish western-style foundries, to produce European cannon, end up stepping on the toes of conservative interests, though ultimately they were successful in producing some of the first industry outside the Atlantic.
(Afsharid Persia: -1 Confidence Iran, Enact State Arsenals in Iran, Enact Fiscal Reforms)
Increased warfare and migration in southeast Africa leads to an uptick in the slave trade as the victors sell the defeated to Spanish merchants in chains, letting them post a tidy profit in supplying American colonies with labor.
(Spain: +2 Economy Spanish Mozambique)
Meanwhile, Sweden’s trade posts struggle. They mostly exist as stopovers for ships traveling to India at this point, as profitable commerce has yet to be found and company directors continue to experiment with different exports.
While British efforts to resettle the Cape stopped, the forces set in motion did not, as the Dutch-speaking population continued to migrate north, displacing local tribes and paying less and less heed to the governor in Capetown.
(Britain: +1 Economy British Cape)
India
Madhavrao’s work to consolidate his control over the Maratha Empire, and the greater part of the Indian subcontinent, is never done. Even as he campaigns in the north he seeks to secure his lines of supply in the south, bringing the Nagpuri notables into his administration. Fortunately with things still in flux, and the promise of offices governing the rebelling northern territories, he’s able to keep the current governing coalition happy even as it expands. It also helps that Rajasthan, where the old power structures are being reformed most drastically, is the staging point of the Maratha reconquest of the Gangetic Plain, leaving little wiggle room for discontent.
(Maratha Empire: Enact Integrated Elites in Nagpur, Administrative Reform in Rajasthan)
From Jaipur, in Rajasthan, Madhavrao struck north towards Delhi after reorganizing his army, introducing specialist scout units and some attempts at innovative drill. He was poorly opposed by the Awadhi and their allies on his march north and was only briefly held at the city itself. The British-made cannon reduced the city’s fortification to rubble in short time, not that they had been particularly well-manned to begin with. Frustrated with the rival to his own legitimacy Madhavrao had the puppet Emperor executed, along with sufficient members of the royal household that it would be fairly difficult to find a new occupant to the throne, and formally ending the Mughal Empire. Such a momentous event perhaps deserved more fanfare, but by this point he was disassembling much of the administration of India anyway and everyone was already busy trying to murder each other.
The Awadhi were not idle during this time, however. They had ceded Delhi to concentrate their forces on securing their own domains, consolidating other rebel groups behind them. When Madhavrao moved east he was met by a significant force under Nawab Asaf-ud-Duala which, while defeated in open battle, was able to limit his gains after a fresh anti-Maratha rebellion broke out in Delhi after his departure, necessitating his return. It also wasn’t the only Awadhi army in the field as they succeeded in repelling a secondary Maratha force dispatched to take Allahabad. These two indecisive victories have given a degree of legitimacy to the Awadhi cause, though the Nawab’s ability to maintain the tempo of engagement with the Maratha is questionable.
(Maratha Empire: Adopt Military Discipline, Adopt Skirmishers, -16 Irregulars) (Awadh: +Stats)
The interregnum in Khalistan comes to an end as Bhao Singh of the Dillon Misl comes to power, with the grudging tolerance of the rival clans. What he intends to do now is a mystery for the future.
Tipu Sultan’s ambitions to centralize Mysore are frustrated. Absorbing Hyderabad, the former domain of the Nizams, was no easy feat and it continues to be much more loosely controlled than the rest of his domain. Much of the year was spent dealing with growing unrest in the region, after-effects of the Maratha civil war waging across northern India.
(Mysore: -1 Confidence Hyderabad)
East Asia
Binnya Ram turns his gaze outward, leaving Ava for the moment and directing his energies at the west. Contacts are established with major European banking houses and charters given for some British and French merchants to operate in Rangoon, opening up Pegu to greater western influence. For the moment this has brought nothing but silver to the country.
(Pegu: Enact Fiscal Reform, +1 Economy Irrawaddy Delta)
Emperor Quang Trung leads an army to restore his control over the southwest of Annam, recapturing Phnom Penh from the disorganized Khmer rebels. But he is unable to establish control over the countryside and even in the cities he relies on a brutal network of Viet peasant militia cum police to retain order. This, and other efforts at land reform, aren’t enough to dissuade a rebellion of the Trinh in the north, taking advantage of the extended campaign in the south. Tay Son Annam may have entered a death spiral, with rebellions at both ends of the nascent empire.
(Annam: -10% Centralization Dai Nam, +5% Centralization Khmer, Adopt Secret Police, Enact Populist Measures, Enact Fiscal Reforms, - 11 Irregulars)
Diplomats from Britain, Spain, Russia, Persia are all present in China to celebrate the beginning of the year of the dog. In some other era, with some other empire, one could imagine that there would be conservative forces in Peking opposed to opening the city to western diplomats. Indeed the Forbidden City itself remained strictly off limits to foreigners: the casual suggestion of the Qianlong Emperor otherwise was delicately ignored by the officials responsible for planning the New Year Festivities. But the funds dedicated to the event, and the generous tribute brought by some of the foreign attendees, went a long way towards smoothing over any ruffled feathers and filling suitably discrete pockets. And when the foreigners left permanent embassies, well, there would be little sense in objecting now.
(Qing China: +1 Confidence Hebei)
Perhaps it is the spirit of the new year. Perhaps it is the diligent and loyal administrators. Perhaps it is the greater troop presence suppressing discontent. Either way the Qing solidified their hold over southern China this year. Most distant, in both temperment and geography from the center of Qing power, the annual reports of White Lotus activity in Guangdong province are little more than white noise.
(Qing China: +1 Confidence Guangdong)
The Tokugawa Shogunate continues its efforts to resist western domination even as it accepts western influence. As tensions between the Shogun and the daimyo grow, especially in the south, the Roku are pressed to pass a new package of legislation, creating regional governors and launching a fresh anti-corruption drive, with the intent of pressuring recalcitrant daimyo from above and below. Surprisingly it was often former Tozama daimyo that were selected as regional governors, a move that has greatly muddled the traditional partisan lines even as it weakened the Shogunate’s traditional base of support. The most radical step was an attempted meritocratization of the samurai class, establishing mandatory exams in several traditional subjects. Here Tokugawa Hidetaka overreached and met near universal opposition in the Great Roku Council: the Fudai were sufficiently alienated and the Tozama insufficiently reconciled with the Shogunate to give him anything close to a majority.
(Tokugawa Japan: Enact State Arsenal in Kyushu, Enact Populist Measures)
The pace of these reforms has not just inspired legislative opposition, however: the creation of a small European-style military force led to bloodshed. French specialists were invited to establish an academy in Osaka to support the growth of this formation. A group of samurai with uncertain support were deeply opposed to the European presence and radicalized by the attempted changes to the Samurai class. They chose to express their opposition to the opening of Japan and to the Shogun’s policies with an attack on the French consulate, storming the nascent regiment’s headquarters and murdering the military advisors before committing honorable seppuku. The event has deeply disturbed the moderates in the Shogunate even as it has empowered radical reformers and conservatives and, perhaps most worryingly, jeopardized relations with their French allies.
(Tokugawa Japan: -1 Stability, Discard Progressive)
Russian investment in its far eastern territories continued with the opening of several all-season ports to support their Alyaskan colony, along with the establishment of a small, hardy fleet of pacific mariners to support further ventures along the American coastline. This prompted a boom in whaling in the North Pacific, as all know blubber is the true source of wealth and civilization.
(Russia-Lithuania: +2 Economy Russian Far East)
Two expeditions are launched to colonize Terre Australis, the great southern continent in the Pacific. The first and most anticipated was the British one, who endeavored to establish a penal colony at a particularly desirable cove they had named Sydney. But they arrived to find it was already occupied by a curious cooperation between the Japanese, far from their North Pacific home, and the French, who were apparently supporting an effort to colonize Nangoku with Japanese convict labor and ronin. Confused the expedition continued south establishing a colony called New Albion in another harbor on the southern part of the island, far enough from the Japanese settlement (called Sekigahara) that they could be undisturbed if desired. The continent is certainly more than big enough for both nations to dump their undesirables off at for the moment, though it’s unclear if London would see it that way.
Americas
The British continued to invest into their Hudson Bay colony, with dozens of ships braving the frigid waters to deliver supplies and colonists. They are able to push Anglo settlement further west, though the value of the land they claim remains questionable: what kind of man would prefer to live in the frozen Canadian plain over sunny England?
The rebellion continues in French North America. With the maneuver to reconnect with the French fleet at Quebec itself foiled, the Duc de Mahon wintered in Niagara. The elements and colonial raiders took a toll on his forces, at the end of a very large supply chain, and by the start of the campaigning season his army was already reduced. Realizing that such a concentration of men made them a prime target for revolutionary harassment he split his force into four parts.
The first force would turn back the way they came the year before. They were chiefly the invalids, regiments too damaged by the harsh environment to be effective in a fight but more than capable of reinforcing his overstretched supply lines from Louisiana. Even reinforced this long route was still vulnerable and a rebel force supported by river ships sailed down the Ohio and captured a French fort, necessitating the divergence of the old supply route. Worse they began agitating several of the Native American tribes in the region against their alliance with France.
(France: -1 Confidence Huron, -1 Regiment) (Colombie: -1 Irregular)
The second force was sent south, to link up with de Lambertye’s regulars and continue to pacifiy the Carolinian colony. Because of the significant distance involved, and the circuitous route necessitated by the poor infrastructure of the American interior, they did not arrive until the campaigning season was nearly over. But they were much appreciated because de Lambertye’s southern army had been much strained by the constant guerrilla warfare. He had been directed to abandon his successful strategy of securing key ports in favor of controlling the interior, where his men had been subjected to constant raids and harassment by the Colombian forces. Partisan warfare and brutal reprisals, from both sides, has hardened Carolinian opinion in favor of independence, precipitating a key change in Nouvelle Anvers later this year.
(Colombie: +1 Confidence Caroline, -1 Irregular) (France: -3 Regiments)
The last and largest of this was under his personal command and endeavored to cross the Appalachians south of Lake Erie and by this way enter Nouvelle Bretagne, to strike at the heart of rebel power. Much like his march up the Ohio river, crossing the Appalachians was no easy feat, but it was a bold maneuver that evidently took the rebel generals by surprise for he met no significant opposition. His forces reached and captured key positions along the Delaware before the end of the year, severely disrupting commerce and governance in the heart of the Colombian republic.
(Colombie: -5% Centralization Nouvelle Bretagne) (France: -2 Regiments)
Unfortunately Mahon’s army is now incredibly vulnerable. The forces left to hold in Niagara under Louis Gasquet were harassed through the spring by colonial irregulars, but in June a significant rebel force maneuvered to engage. Unlike the previous formations, which were made up of motley militamen, these were well-drilled troops in the European style, albeit with some consideration for colonial warfare. Gasquet was routed and forced to surrender, eroding the French gains in the north and opening up Mahon’s rear to encirclement by the new force of rebel regulars.
(Colombie: Discard Irregulars, Adopt Free Corps, -1 regiment, -1 irregular) (France: -4 regiments, -1 battery)
Meanwhile, events in Nouvelle Anvers continue, with the rebel parliament formally declaring its independence from the French in the wake of Gasquet’s defeat. Unfortunately for them this move came too late for some, and far too early for others, as the Acadian delegates balked at the proposal and refused to support it. Though they have yet to formally withdraw support for the rebel cause there are open rumors that the Acadian government has entered talks with France, entertaining royal envoys to the dismay of the radicals.
(Colombie: Discard New Government, +1 Confidence Canada, -1 Confidence Acadia)
French colonists in Louisiana are emboldened by the Colombian declaration of independence, though their identity remains separate from the rebels. They’ve petitioned Louis for the granting of additional autonomy, echoing similar promises made to the Colombians before the outbreak of hostilities. Why should the rebels be offered privileges that they, loyal subjects, could not receive?
(France: -1 Confidence French Louisiana)
As Spanish finances go from perilous to merely fragile, the Viceroyalty of New Spain is authorized to resume its efforts to push the border north, establishing a fort at the entrance of a protected bay dubbed San Francisco.
A generous collection and lottery is taken up in New Spain, ostensibly to support Spanish colonization efforts in California across the Colorado. Of course given the nature of Spanish finances most of this money finds its way to paying off the debt.
(Spain: -5 Debt)
Dutch New Holland is the recipient of a royal visit this year, as King Willem Casimir arrives to much fanfare and appreciation from the colony, which embraces the prestige of being integral enough to the Dutch nation that they could lure the monarch into making such a perilous crossing. His presence was not alone: he brought administrators and bureaucrats worthy of a royal court who inserted themselves into the colony and somewhat dimmed local enthusiasm, though leaving the colony much more efficiently managed.
(Netherlands: Enact Regulating Act in New Holland, +1 Confidence New Holland)
Inca revivalism is on the upswing in Peru among Amerinds and some discontent Mestizos.
(Spain: -1 Confidence Peru)
OOC:
So it turns out it’s spelled Cyrenaica, not Cyrenecaica.
I need a bit of time to get stats in order, so you can expect them tomorrow.
Unless there are delays with stats you can expect a deadline of
September 16th for turn 3 orders. This gives you a bit more than a week.
EDIT:
Stats Here
