A More Personal Union

[Razgriz 2K9]

I wonder...does anyone here think that Japan might have a shot at setting up trading outposts, if not an outright colony in the Americas? Or is this a pipe dream?

[Thespitron 6000]

Spring 1594: With Sweden now settled and done, the Danes move south, a movement welcomed by the other members of the Alliance, who hope it will break the stalemate reigning in France. Crossing over the Holstein border with thirty thousand men, Viktor immediately heads for the Lutheran city of Hamburg. Politely meeting with city leaders outside Hamburg’s walls, Viktor explains that he intends to guarantee the religious liberties of Protestant territories that surrender to him without resistance. As a Lutheran himself, he expresses outrage that the Hamburgers suffer under a Catholic monarch, and suggests they would be better off under a Protestant prince, who might be more inclined to ensure good government for his coreligionists than a Papist. After two days of debate, the Hamburgers accede to Viktor’s ultimatum, and the Danes take the city without firing a shot.

Upon hearing word of this, Ernest is seriously alarmed at the prospect of his Protestant vassals defecting over to Denmark and the Alliance. Sending his most talented general, Eggenberg, to stop the Danes, Ernest heads for Vienna, hoping to shore up his political position.

Eggenberg meets Viktor at Neustadt am Rubenberge, where the Danes and Germans collide in battle for the first time. Viktor has already succeeded in suborning the Lutheran city of Hanover, but a defeat at the hands of Eggenberg would damage his reputation as an irresistible force in northern Germany. The battle is exhausting for both sides; however, Viktor’s Danes have been hardened over the past year through constant combat in the wintery north, while Eggenberg’s men have lost some of their sharpness as a result of stalemate. After six hours, the Germans withdraw, and Viktor prepares to move east towards Magdeburg, hoping to sway that city into the Protestant camp as May shades into June.

In Holland, the sudden departure of Eggenberg leaves an opening that Marischal and Montmorency are quick to exploit. Punching through the light German regiments intended to hold the line during Eggenberg’s absence, they cross the Rhine and quickly seize first Dusseldorf and then Cologne. Ernest has the prospect of his whole northern front rolling up staring him in the face, and dispatches Albert south to hold the Scot and the Frenchman to the territory they’ve managed to take, and if possible, push them back.

The siege of Pamplona has lasted far longer than Lencastre imagined it would, especially since he’s been unable to maintain a deathgrip on the throat of the Navarrese due to the harassment of Etampes. The plucky French commander, using hit-and-run tactics, has gradually whittled down Lencastre’s forces, until the Portuguese commander has no choice but to withdraw from the siege, as remaining stationary would put him at serious risk of being surrounded and destroyed. With Pamplona relieved, the Navarrese can return to their own campaign of harassment, against Spain on the high seas.

Alva and Orleans continue to dance across southeastern France, neither wishing to commit to battle unless the odds favor them. As the two armies are too closely matched, this means that battle is not forthcoming, and the countryside suffers under rampaging rival armies.

Shakespeare and Bourbon begin a campaign of bushwhacking guerrilla warfare against the plantations in the southeastern mountains of Cuba, small plantations with little importance, but a ripe recruiting ground, as the two and their little mercenary army liberate slaves wherever they go. Hundreds of Africans, Indians, and even captured Europeans flock to their banner, eager for a chance to get revenge on the hated Spanish.

[Thespitron 6000]

"El Lugar de Alaridos"

Summer 1594:

“I never have seen such misery; the men here are as less than dogs, but even a dog may bite. They say the Moor, the African, is a savage, but even a savage deserveth not this.” So writes Geoffrey de Bourbon.

A hot summer day, the air ripe with humidity, and they’ve been liberating a large plantation, somewhere in central Cuba. All day, hacking at Spanish troops, killing them wherever they stood, and then to smite the chains from the necks of the slaves. Bourbon shakes his head. The things they’ve seen...men should not be treated like this. Now the former slaves mill about, unclear as to what they should do, while Bourbon’s men ransack the big house, looking for useful goods, food, anything. There are some sheds, some distance away, and Black Bill is poking around there with a few men.

From the house, a squawking, and Bourbon turns to see his men dragging down some struggling prisoners, Spaniards, torn doublets and hose from their squirming. His men half-carry, half-haul the men over to where Bourbon stands, and the “bloody prince” gives one man a kick.

“This one yar, we think he is the master o’ this place,” says one of Bourbon’s mercenaries, and shakes the man in question like a rat. Bourbon narrows his eyes, and loosens his sword in its scabbard.

“Then perhaps he would be so kind as to answer us a few questions,” he says, but before he can move in for the kill, an uproar from behind him.

Bourbon turns to see Shakespeare’s men stumbling away from one of the sheds, and breaks into a brisk run towards them. Reaching them, he tries to push through the agitated men, towards the shed they had been investigating, but a slim arm wrapped around his chest stops him.

“Nay, Geoffrey, nay,” gasps Shakespeare, pulling Bourbon away, and Bourbon is shocked to see the man pale, his narrow, beardless face drawn and damp with sweat. “Look not you in yon shed, there are some things a man should not see.”

Throwing off Shakespeare’s arm, disturbed by his friend’s countenance, he places a hand on the door of the shed. Shakespeare is a hardened veteran, his soft, boyish face betraying nothing of the ruthless blade beneath--as deadly a swordsman as Bourbon has yet known--what could upset him so? Bourbon wrenches open the door, and looks inside, then quickly shuts the door again. The sight lasts only a few seconds, and yet it is seared on his eyeballs, and he knows it will haunt his dreams. The old, dried blood. The pincers and crocodile shears. The forks and the knives. And the bodies...so many bodies...more bodies than one could imagine could fit in such a small space...And in the middle of the shed, the drain...

He marches back, towards where his men have surrounded the hapless master, the man now on his knees pleading, and at the sight of Bourbon, face like thunder, the man’s eyes grow wide. “Please,” he begs in rough French, “please, you must understand, we had our orders, we had--so many bales of sugarcane, so many--we had our orders, you must understand! Please!” The man lunges forward, falling to squirm in the dirt, and Bourbon’s men roughly wrench him back up into a kneeling position. A small crowd of slaves has gathered, saying nothing, watching silently.

Bourbon says nothing. He stalks over to a pile of cuttoes, and yanks out three of the blades, then turns.

The master gibbers in terror, “Please! We are men like you, just like you! You can’t--we can’t--please!” From here, Bourbon can see the lash marks on the backs of the slaves, who watch him with cold eyes. Cuttoes in hand, he marches back over to the crowd. He shoves the tangs of the cuttoes into the hands of three uncomprehending slaves, then turns and crouches in front of the now meek and terrified master.

The two regard each other for a long moment, and then Bourbon says in Spanish, “We have our orders.” Then he stands and to the now-armed slaves says, “Make it slow.”

Walking away, he is almost able to block out the screams from behind. Almost.

[chr92]

Originally Posted by Thespitron 6000

"El Lugar de Alaridos"

Just to say this is outstandingly good, even by your standards.

[Scipio Africanus]

Originally Posted by chr92

Just to say this is outstandingly good, even by your standards.

Seconded. The timeline in general is reaching quite the climax, I can tell you have been planning this war for quite some time!
Scipio

[Xgentis]

I knew they would discover something horrible. In this timeline Spain has really a darker history then OTL. It managed to shake battle hardened veterans to the core and one has the nickname of "the bloody" it must have been something.

[Razgriz 2K9]

As a person of African descent, it makes me happy to see the slaveowners get payback for the atrocities they have done, it saddens me that they would do such extremes as well, but whatever it takes to win the war I suppose.

I assume that slavery will be ending in Cuba, or will it persist under a lighter term?

[naraht]

I'm unable to tell from Wikipedia... In OTL, when did the countries from the Grand Alliance first start trading in Slaves and/or have Slaves in their American possessions?

Haiti didn't become French until 1664 and Jamaica didn't become English until 1655. While certainly not the only places with Slavery owned by the English or French they are among the most obvious. I don't think the Dutch, Navarese, Scotland or Denmark had any American possessions with slaves at this point.

So any ideas?

[naraht]

Originally Posted by Razgriz 2K9

As a person of African descent, it makes me happy to see the slaveowners get payback for the atrocities they have done, it saddens me that they would do such extremes as well, but whatever it takes to win the war I suppose.

I assume that slavery will be ending in Cuba, or will it persist under a lighter term?

The British did have indentured servitude for those of African descent for a while in Bermuda, but eventually took away all rights, but Cuba probably already has 10 times more slaves than Bermuda ever did. I'm not sure how this ever gets put back in the bottle. At best (and I'm not sure even this is possible), only the Caribbean gets a significant population of those of African descent ITTL.

[Thespitron 6000]

Summer 1594: With the Danish lion loose in northern Germany, the war takes on a new tenor. Many of the Protestant lords see Viktor not as an invader, but as a liberator, and as Magdeburg falls to the Danes with only token resistance, Ernest must struggle to keep his coalition of nobles in line. Worse for him, Viktor is canny enough not to play the same game the Spanish are playing in southern France. He is careful not to despoil the land, keeping the German lords and peasants on good terms and providing valuable employment as he recruits thousands of mercenaries. Payment comes in the form of massive loans taken out from Jewish banking families such as the Fursts and Benvenistes, loans which Viktor has no intention of paying back; in his opinion, Jews are less likely to squawk if he reneges on his commitments. With this sudden influx of men comes opportunity. Moving south after two months of consolidating his hold on Saxony, Viktor heads for Leipzig, the next stop on his road towards Vienna. Ernest, pushing his men harder and faster than he ever has before, rushes to stop him. The two armies meet around the city of Halle.

The battle of Halle lasts two days. Ernest possesses a slightly larger force, but his men are exhausted from the long march, and by comparison Viktor’s Danes and German mercenaries seem positively fresh. Over the course of the battle Viktor hammers Ernest’s army again and again, seemingly tireless. Only at the end, his own men exhausted, does he relent, but the damage has been done. Ernest’s army has taken a terrible beating, and must withdraw. Ernest’s lackluster command once more reveals itself as a deciding factor in battle.

Nonetheless, Viktor himself must stop his advance and recuperate. There are other Imperial armies out there, and he is in no condition to fight them.

Albert seeks to regain Cologne from the impudent Marischal, whose army holds it while Montmorency moves east. With the two Alliance commanders thus divided, Albert hopes to isolate Marischal’s smaller force and destroy him. Although he engages Marischal in a bloody day long battle that roils around Cologne, Albert is unable to press home the advantage; Marischal’s musketeers are too nimble to be trapped, and the battle ends inconclusively. Meanwhile Montmorency attempts to seize Mainz, but is rebuffed by the surprisingly good generalship of William the Pious, whose Saxons are disciplined, well-rested, and eager to drive off these French upstarts. An abortive battle follows the arrival of Montmorency’s troops, but the French general quickly realizes the resistance is stronger than he expected, and withdraws.

As thousands of slaves flock to Bourbon and Shakespeare’s banners, the Spanish authorities crack down even harder; hundreds of slaves suspected of harboring rebellious tendencies are executed as an example to the others. The rebels are putting a serious dent in the Spanish sugar and cattle production; the more severely they crack down on rebellious slaves, the more rebellious slaves there are. Philip’s System, once so perfect, is beginning to break down now that the slaves hold the possibility of escape to the rebels in their hearts.

Although most Italians are of course sympathetic to the aims of the League, the presence of brawling armies has the denizens of northern Italy in dire straits, as their crops are burnt, their cities pillaged, and their population decimated by disease brought by mercenaries. Both La Noue and Don John of Austria have become intolerable presences for the Italians; neither seems capable of defeating the other, and it is the Italians who suffer. For their own safety and defense, in July Milan, Ferrara, Modena, Parma, what remains of the Republic of Venice, Genoa, Mantua, and Montferrat band together into the Pavian Compact, a defensive league whose goal is the expulsion of the warring French and Spaniards. To this end, they begin joint training of their militias--they have a long way to go before they can match the prowess of La Noue’s Frenchmen or John’s professional mercenaries.

Now that the pressure is off eastern France, Cromwell pushes his allies for a move south, to cut the Spanish supply lines. Once Alva is isolated from Spain, his destruction should be easy. Although Orleans is skeptical, Turenne, a rising star in the French military, sides with Cromwell, saying the time is right to strike at the Spanish. Enough English and Scots have arrived over the Channel to detach their forces and move them south. The English lack of familiarity with the south of France is a problem, though, and Orleans detaches Pierre d’Orleans, that talented young commander, to aid Cromwell as the English army prepares to take back the cities of the south. Limoges is their first target, and in June they lay in the siege, hoping to crack the Spanish before the end of summer.

Alva, meanwhile, is fearful of just such an occurrence, and is sending couriers daily to Eggenberg in Germany, in the hopes that the Imperial commander can hit the French in the back and allow Alva to move towards Paris once more. It’s becoming increasingly obvious to the Spanish general that his position is increasingly untenable. Unless Ferdinand or Ernest sends another army into France, he risks being cut off.

[Thespitron 6000]

Autumn 1594: Walter Raleigh and his band of mercenaries land near Iquique, and immediately run into trouble. Ahead of them lies an expanse of desert so dry, that in many places it is as lifeless as the moon. Water is scarce, so scarce that there may not have been any significant rain in twenty-five years. And Raleigh and his men must cross it.

It is a brutal journey, and Raleigh loses nearly fifty men, but they make it. Now they have a much more formidable obstacle--the Andes. This great mountain range includes some of the highest peaks in the New World, and is part of that mighty chain stretching nearly pole to pole. Although it is less than four hundred miles from Iquique to Potosi, the journey takes them nearly eighty days, putting them deep into the Andes and the Andean winter. The mountain slopes are brutal, and with little food and little water, Raleigh and his men are in danger of starvation. Luckily for them, Peru is one of the most lightly held regions of the Spanish empire, and they manage to avoid roaming enemy patrols.

Unfortunately, upon arriving outside Potosi, Raleigh is nearly ready to go home. Potosi, with its rich veins of silver, is well on its way to becoming the most important city in the New World, and thousands of Spaniards and Quechua--most of whom are not slaves--makes assaulting the city with a few hundred starving mercenaries seem like an impossible task. Still, Raleigh is not one to give up. He begins bushwhacking silver caravans heading northwest from Potosi towards La Paz and Lima, seizing their silver and hiding it in secure locations in the mountains. Quechua teamsters he lets go, the Spanish he kills. As winter sets in, he and his men find the living to be very rough indeed, but an increase of patrols by Spanish cavalry indicates his strategy is working; at least he’s causing problems for the Spanish in addition to his own.

Limoges falls back into the hands of the Alliance, a much needed victory after so many years of frustration. Cromwell is eager to move towards Bordeaux, but d’Orleans is worried about overreach. Get too far from the main French body, and it’s possible Alva might use the opportunity to attack and defeat Orleans, a general whom d’Orleans has little faith in. Better to move slowly. Once they’ve successfully reestablished themselves in Limoges, then move against Bordeaux, but that probably won’t be until the spring.

Alva, meanwhile, is beside himself with frustration. He needs more men. Months of inactivity and little in the way of success means that his men are restive. They want action and they want plunder, and most of all they want victory. Cromwell’s success in taking Limoges means that the Spanish are in danger of being cut off. He badgers Ferdinand relentlessly, begging for more troops, which he knows Ferdinand has.

Ferdinand would like to send more troops, he really would, but it doesn’t fit into his grand scheme. A thirty-thousand-strong army is forming up at Corunna, and he’s not about to waste it on an Alva who is little more than a distraction at this point.

Viktor, having whipped the Emperor thoroughly, now moves into Leipzig as a gateway to Prague. The Protestant Germans, who are hailing Viktor as the “Danish Fritigernus”, are eager to be linked up with their coreligionists in Bohemia, a prospect that fills Ernest with dread. As simple as he is in many respects, he is nonetheless bright enough to recognize that a Protestant Bohemia swooning willingly into the arms of the Dane would spell the end of his aspirations as a Catholic monarch. Viktor must be stopped. The only person in any kind of position to stop him is Matthias of Austria, a nonentity who has spent most of the last twenty years of his life as an ascetic scholar, studying the works of Classical philosophers, Romans such as Marcus Aurelius and Greeks like Plato. With a very small army, he is ordered to the field by his brother the Emperor, who hopes that the inexperienced Matthias can hold Viktor back long enough to allow General Winter to intervene. It is a vain hope.

The Danes annihilate the small force of Austrians, and Matthias is killed in battle, a hapless innocent called to a duty he was incapable of filling. Viktor moves forward towards Prague, intent on laying siege to the city and bringing it to heel if it doesn’t surrender.

The Battle of Havana begins on October 12, 1594. Bourbon, Shakespeare, and thousands of freed slaves--African, Indian, European--many of whom are armed with little more than farm implements, besiege the Spanish capital and sack the surrounding countryside. From the ocean, the city is bombarded by ships under Wicked Hal Finch, the Dutch admiral Joos de Moor, and Francois de Coligny, who pound Havana relentlessly. The sweet smell of burning sugarcane fills the air, spiced here and there with the tang of blood.

What the slaves lack in discipline they more than make up for in fury, breaking in great waves against Havana’s defenses. The Spanish inside fight as if their lives depend on it, which they do. Bourbon and Shakespeare have been joined in leadership by a massive African, whose language they do not understand but who “has the air of a king about him, and he seemeth to speak Portuguese or perhaps Spanish, but in a manner foreign to us. When we ask his name, he replies not, thus we call him Jack Straw,” writes Shakespeare. “Straw” and his ex-slave followers are among the most ferocious fighters, pushing hard through to the very streets of the city. After that, everything descends into chaos. Bourbon sees panicked citizens taking to the streets, often fleeing while carrying the most bizarre objects--a large brass mirror in one case--while others futilely attempt to organize some kind of defense against the slaves, who lose all semblance of discipline in the face of their tormenters, and chase terrified Spanish soldiers down narrow alleyways while hacking at them with cuttoes and other makeshift weapons. Like a disturbed anthill, the invaders coalesce around the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, the city’s primary fortress and the home of the governor. Arriving along with a knot of his men, Bourbon finds that the gates have already been breached. Even as cannonballs from the attacking Alliance ships zip overhead to bury themselves in nearby buildings, Bourbon sees Shakespeare atop a battlement, dueling three Spanish soldiers at once, a sword in each hand, his slim body nimbly dodging enemy thrusts. Bourbon charges through the gate to find the interior of the fortress in chaos as Spaniards mount a desperate defense and Indian and African slaves attempt to slaughter them. Finding Shakespeare running down a corridor, a bloody blade in each hand, Bourbon calls out, “Did you save me any?”

“Plenty more whence they come, Highness! By your leave, let us go find some!” The two run off, only to discover they are too late. The governor, fearing capture, has leapt from the battlements into the bay, and is now slowly swimming away towards what he hopes is safety even as the rebels fire shots at him from the walls of the Castillo. Havana is theirs. The Spanish jewel in the Caribbean has been looted; the back of the Spanish main has been broken.

[G.Bone]

Wow. I must say that the adventures of Bourbon and Shakespeare are far more effective than the wars in Europe. I would like to see more of them. Keep up the good work Thespitron..

[Razgriz 2K9]

You know, if I didn't know any better, those very adventures, should be made into a movie, all of it. It is just epic like you wouldn't believe.

[Xgentis]

The war seem to go in the alliance favor. I doubt Bohemia will oppose the Danes. All that is left is for Poland to take advantage of the empire weakness. As for the situation in France they need to crush Alva forces once and for all and drive the spaniard out of France and march into Spain proper.

[DTF955Baseballfan]

That was amazing.

I wonder fi Denmark could become powerful and popular enough in this TL to unite at least Northern Germany years down the road!

Where does the governor think he can swim to, anyway?

[naraht]

Originally Posted by Xgentis

The war seem to go in the alliance favor. I doubt Bohemia will oppose the Danes. All that is left is for Poland to take advantage of the empire weakness. As for the situation in France they need to crush Alva forces once and for all and drive the spaniard out of France and march into Spain proper.

Oddly enough having the Polish take advantage of this to attack the Empire is that the Danes have managed to "take" (in some cases fairly willingly) 75%+ of the Polish border with the Empire. All that is left that the empire controls on the border between Poland the Empire is Moravia and Slovakia (and I'm not sure about Slovakia). And remember the Poles did promise not to attack the empire.

OTOH, Poland is in an *excellent* position to backstab the Danes, take all that the Danes have conquered and simply fail to return it to the Empire.

(and it would be justice for taking all that nice Jewish money without intending to pay it back. )

[naraht]

Originally Posted by DTF955Baseballfan

That was amazing.

I wonder fi Denmark could become powerful and popular enough in this TL to unite at least Northern Germany years down the road!

Where does the governor think he can swim to, anyway?

A sufficiently politic english or dutch captain *may* be willing to hold him for ransom or at least imprison him and even better have him imprisoned in Europe. Jack Straw and his followers, OTOH are almost certain to torture him to death.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by Thespitron 6000

Summer 1594:, in July Milan, Ferrara, Modena, Parma, what remains of the Republic of Venice, Genoa, Mantua, and Montferrat band together into the Pavian Compact, a defensive league whose goal is the expulsion of the warring French and Spaniards.

Italian Unification (at least in the north) 200-300 years early?

[Grouchio]

If so, then Hetalia would be so completely different, I couldn't tell you.

[Xgentis]

Originally Posted by DTF955Baseballfan

That was amazing.

I wonder fi Denmark could become powerful and popular enough in this TL to unite at least Northern Germany years down the road!

Where does the governor think he can swim to, anyway?

Annex part of it yes but denemark isn't german.