The Dual Reich

The Great Irish War (pt.1)
Charles weighed his options. He could abandon Ireland now, set it to blockade and reorganize his army, then once Ireland had been starved for a year he would descend on it and conquer it. But he knew a protracted war would make Parliament even more unhinged than before, so Charles looked at his other option. He would hold forward positions in Ulster, attacking the Spanish when he could and bringing a large army forward to beat the Irish rebels. The army to the south, Charles figured, was of less importance, but he bargained the capture of Dublin could regain the situation for him, and give himself much more legitimacy. Charles assembled a marine force of 10,000 to take the city and awaited Scottish reinforcements as he made entrenchments in Enniskillen, deciding to funnel Thomas's army into a marshy chokepoint where he could destroy them.
The Royal Navy had finally gotten into the action. Its massive galleons moved to place Ireland under blockade and fought a hard battle against the Spanish at the battle of Muir Chelteach to defeat the Spanish, and established a blockade. France and Spain would have to find a way to break the blockade if they wanted to send support to the Irish.

Thomas's army had marched North, but he had caught himself in his own trap. The winter had waned his own supplies, and the new spring left marshy flatbeds of the Western Irish plains he had marched through, and the blockade rendered the idea of going back to port to resupply null and void. Thomas decided he had to figure out a plan to push Charles out of his newfound positions but knew an attack would be devastating. Public support had dwindled for Thomas, and he feared his position might come unhinged if he didn't take action. Thomas thought of attempts at marching north, but the mountainous terrain above the Lower Lough Earn would cause more hassle than it was worth, and marching south meant entering Donough's territory, which he believed would only pull from the real threat, which was England. Thomas thus decided to take Charles's bait, fearing the worst.
The two armies reached each other in April. Thomas's army as surrounded by nearly all sides on marshlands and Charles had elevated positions for his artillery. Thomas saw his defeat but knew he had to dislodge Charles's position before summer came, and the English reinforcements arrived with a dried up ground for Charles to march across Western Ireland. Thomas engaged Charles with daring flanking maneuvers, causing close quarters fighting in wetlands. Thomas's army he had, with his 41,000 against Charles's 36,000. Thomas knew the entirety of Charles's army wasn't here, either patrolling the North or lakebeds. Thomas also bargained that Charles's forces were demoralized, so he hoped the Tercios could dislodge Charles's entrenchments. Thomas decided to launch an infantry charge, but his forces were overpowered by an artillery barrage. Thomas withdrew and reorganized, thinking of ways to capture his artillery. The marshlands to the flanks rendered his cavalry advantage useless, so he decided to send a cavalry attack in the center.
The attack, known as Thomas’s Charge, names so because he himself lead the attack, ended in a bloodbath. Thomas’s attack had managed to push the initial English line back, but English pikemen and curaisser counterassaults had forced the charge into a broken assault. Charles fired artillery into the cavalry’s rear, trapping Thomas. Realizing his forces were going to be doomed unless drastic action was taken, he signaled the infantry to charge. The Spanish would attack, stopping Charles’s envelopment move with his curaissers, and letting Thomas escape, but he took a blade to his eye and would lose vision in that eye. Thomas rode off as his cavalry corps were slaughtered, and only the arrival of the Tercios kept a complete rout from happening. Thomas reassembled his lines, after that disastrous charge, Charles followed with Curaisser harassing raids on the methodically retreating Tercios, and only the pounding of artillery broke their solid stance. The Tercios fell back, and Thomas had no idea what to do.
Charles would hold his position. He knew that until the Spring mud dried, he could indefinitely hold his position and force Thomas into their doom. Thomas decided to withdraw. His wound had bled profusely, and he went in and out of consciousness. During his withdrawal, he made his way to Sligo, looking to reshoot his forces in the defensive city. The retreat was a crushing blow to the once giddy Spanish and lambasted the Habsburg position in Ireland.

Once May arrived, Charles gave the green light for an invasion of Dublin. The marines landed and encountered Donough’s army.
Donough himself had been able to redevelop his army throughout the winter and doubled his forces. Deciding that his army was battle-ready, he sent an army of 6,000 to protect Dublin.
The invasion was accompanied by the sound of galleon fire, as Donough’s entrenched forces launched artillery barrages and cavalry raids to push the Royal Marines back into the sea. The fighting lasted for hours, and England got a successful beachhead. Donough’s forces had run out of ammo, and ship fire made his army in Dublin brittle. But the English took heavy casualties, and Donough rose with 5,000 more forces to protect Dublin. The battle practically destroyed the town, and many civilians had failed to evacuate in time, their homes burned and injuries rampant, the battle would be close, but the British withdrew. Donough has achieved victory and showed his willingness to hold, but the losses and damage to the city had given the English newfound morale. Charles passed the invasion as a raid in front of Parliament and believed the Irish cause to be broken.

The blockade was beginning to take its toll. Summer arrived, and trade suffered. Periodic bombardments of coastal towns killed hundreds and damaged infrastructure. But all was not well for the Royal Navy.
Louis observed his fleet at Calais. It was a mighty fleet, and Louis had confidence in the French navy. Richelieu wanted a quick war and drew up plans for a decisive invasion at Portsmouth, where they would occupy the Isle of Wight and use that as a stepping stone to landing an army in England. Louis feared Richelieu may be going too far, but Richelieu promised that the invasion would not be a wild fantasy to conquer England, but simply a raid, hugging the coast, just to tell England that France could do it. That England would no longer hold sole naval supremacy and would sue for peace. The French decided to agree, but would wait until an Anglo-Spanish naval engagement before daring to test the English at sea.

Fernando of Tuscany was quickly losing ground. His raid on Lombardy had ended in failure, and he struggled to hold against the Napoli army, which threatened to cripple his south. His army was beaten back, and Florence was put to siege. Fernando assembled a defense at Pisa, but without French help he knew he was doomed.
While Louis anxiously waited an oppurtune moment for an invasion of England, he decided that his levies he could pull on, the 100,000 originally set to invade Italy, could be used in an invasion of Iberia. Catalonia provides an open spot for his forces to invade, so Louis raised his banners and marched south toward Barcelona. He believed if he was successful in Catalonia he could relieve pressure off of Fernando, or even convince Spain to drop out of the war.
Anne was infuriated with this decision, to the point of reaching infatuation with the king. Sending letters through covenants to Phillip IV, in order to warn him about the incoming French invasion.

Developments in Central Europe were also taking shape. The Habsburgs saw the conflict in Italy at one of concern, and decided to employ a strategy. Ferdinand believed Venice was weak and open, and within easy striking distance. After consulting the pope, and staging incidents along the Venetian-Austrian border, while also bribing Venetian bishops to commit acts that violated agreements set in the council of Trent. The pope, after a moderate amount of Habsburg bribery, excommunicated Venice. The Urbino pact was formed between Austria and the Papal States, and Ferdinand charged at Venice, which by this point Doge Francesco Erizzo was trying desperately to stop the Habsburg political snowball that was Ferdinand II and his goals of restoration of Austrian prestige.
Ferdinand himself would pass away just before riding off to war, leaving Archduke Ferdinand III to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor and inheritor of the war with Venice. The Papal fleets moves to lock down the Adriatic as Ferdinand III placed Franz von Mercy in charge of the war against Venice, raising an army of 80,000. An army that would see the great city of Venetia burned to the ground.
 
So I’m Gonna finish up the Great Irish War next post, and I’ll address marriage for Christina, and would just like to tell you guys that the Great Irish War is about to escalate. At least three major powers will be joining in, and a map is en route, due once the war is over, although I might draw a map of Ireland alone to show the frontlines for the second update if you want.

Edit: I decided that in order to finish up the war, only one extra Great Power will join.
 
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As a semi bump, because I can’t write until later today i’m gonna put a poll as for who should win the Great Irish War. All sides are relatively equally balanced, have a realistic chance of winning, and i’m going to have outside intervention which can tip the scales, but who do you think should win? Thanks!

Edit: Because I have literally no brain, I didn’t notice you could only make one poll a thread. So your options are really:
English victory
French victory
Spanish victory
Stalemate: None of the Irish armies can achieve total victory; little to no continental progression.
 
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The Great Irish War (pt. 2)
Finally able to post more! Sorry about the excruciatingly long delay, had SOLs and Finals that I had to manage, so I was focused on studying rather than writing. I promise I'll be able to post much more and get back on my usual single post a day schedule I had been running on. I hope I haven't lost viewers, and that the success of my story won't vanish.
I decided to talk with some of my friends and got their input on how the Irish War should end. I also decided to write out a rough future TL so I have a chart for events in the future.

Venice immediately felt the brunt of the Austrian invasion. The Venetian army and navy were mainly deployed on Crete in order to quell the growing tensions with the Ottoman Empire, and the Papal Fleet would contain any large attempt at pulling the fleet towards redeployment in Venetia. Franz would oversee the advancement into Friuli and the overrun of Istria. The Venetian army would fall back to the gates of Venice and Pordenone, hoping to slow down the Austrian advance.
Louis saw the Austrian invasion of Venice as an opening. Imperial attention would be pulled back towards Venice, and the rest of Italy couldn't be defended until the war with Venice was wrapped up with. Louis wanted to exploit this, but the bulk of the French forces were already marching towards Spain, and a force to invade Italy need to be built. Louis decided to raise another army of 40,000 and merge it with a breakaway contingent of 10,000 from the original force to invade Catalonia, giving the Italian army a massive 50,000 to invade with. Louis placed the Italian army under the command of Urbain de Maille-Breze. Urbain would take these forces to march towards Savoy in order to break open their state and force them to allow the French army to march forward.
Savoy saw the coming threat and contacted the Austrians. Charles Emanuel of Savoy had just taken power, and the Savoyard political system was in disarray. It was obvious Savoy would have to let the French move past, but the Savoyards were firmly in support of the Habsburgs, and so an agreement was made. Savoy would join the Urbino Pact, to show the French that a united front against them would be made if any incursion were to occur. Louis contacted Richelieu, stating the newfound development. Now that the Imperial forces were coming to intervene, it would complicate any attempt at pushing into Italy. However, Austria was at war with Venice and saw a new opportunity to drive into Italy and save Tuscany before any Imperial forces could stop them. Richelieu weighed his options carefully. If the war escalates into Germany the budget for an invasion of England would be forfeit, and their massive navy could only be used at most to relieve Donough's army. Richelieu decided to take the risk. An invasion of Italy would be necessary to win the war, and if Austria intervened he bargained France could hold. Raising an army to hold Lorraine while the invasion of Italy commenced, Richelieu, envisioned a quick campaign to defeat the Spanish.

Charles's political situation was deteriorating. Starvation had hit his ranks and he understood that if he didn't win, Parliament could strangle his budget. A message from the Dutch read of a demand to back down and give up Ireland. Charles saw this as a direct insult, as the Dutch spoke of war with England. An escalation with the Dutch could prove disastrous, but Charles kept his head sturdy. He decided to holdfast and starve out the two sides. His army needed time to rest, and partisan combatants were ravaging his supplies, so he would send forces to deal with them. Charles decided to move his fleet into the Channel, the new French fleet would become a severe threat to him. He had heard of the events in Italy yet was still fearful of a French landing. The French navy, with the new Dutch contract, was the most powerful fleet in the world, one that could most likely defeat the Royal Navy if given the chance. Charles would spend time mulling over the possibilities with a situation like this and began sending feelers to all parties involved in order to negotiate a peace settlement out of the war.

Donough's army had restructured and rebuilt. His army at Kilkenny drilled into a fighting force. With no reports from France, Donough decided to take the initiative himself, with the English unable to make up their mind and Thomas's army reeling from the battle of Enniskillen, Donough would launch an offensive against the Irish Viceroy in order to secure the region and win the war.
Donough experienced almost no resistance, with Thomas refusing to march south, holding against the English. Donough had managed to overrun much of lower Ireland, and placing Limerick to siege. It was only after Thomas was threatened to be ousted that he marched with 14,000 to defend Galway, but refused to break the siege of Limerick. Donough had used this to his advantage, spreading information that Thomas had abandoned Limerick. The defenders of Limerick, having been starved for a year by the English blockade, found Donough's assaults a cripple to morale. The commander of Limerick surrendered upon the offer that the city wouldn't be sacked, and the soldiers wouldn't be tried.
Donough kept his word, and the city fell. This was a disaster for Thomas, who now saw south fall. Having lost an eye himself and watching his aims disappear before his eyes, he decided to launch a last-ditch offensive. Gathering his full force to bulldoze a path towards Dublin, looking to force Donough into a decisive fight and defeat him, then hope that Donough would surrender. Donough's lighter army caught wind of this and marched towards Thomas's force. However Irish winter would set in once again and the lines fell into a stalemate, with military actions barred by the cold. Charles did use this new window to advance on Sligo, however.

Back in mainland Europe, the French invasion of both Catalonia and Italy simultaneously gave Austria the justification of claiming France to be an aggressing power. The Duke of Lorraine, Charles the IV, joined the Urbino Pact and a solidified bloc would see Imperial forces rallying to Austria's cause. Sweden threatened Austria, demanding them back down. Austria, fearing a repeat of the 16 year's war, would tone down from bringing in the Imperial army to their aid. The Italian army under Urbain would enter Savoy, to be accompanied by a papal declaration of war. The French invasion of Savoy would be swiftly met by a Savoyard counter attack at Nice but failed to hold the city.
The French invasion of Catalonia was a resounding success, smashing the Spanish army at Roussillon and placed Barcelona under siege. The French onslaught would see the Habsburg armies holding by a thread, managing to, in the Modena Campaign, the Austrians and Papal forces deterred a French liberation of Tuscany.

The war would last throughout the winter, the cold forcing all sides to dig in. Once spring mud had dried the French had decided to go out all on the offensive. On the seas, the French decided to relieve the Irish in the decisive Battle of the Irish Channel, a weeks-long battle between the Royal Navy and the French fleet. The Spanish fleet joined in, eventually resulting in an inconclusive result. The Spanish had deterred any French naval operations in Biscay, the English had withdrawn from the area but the French fleet was badly damaged. Despite this, the relief of Donough's supply chain was wonderful news, and at Tullamore, Donough had defeated Thomas in a cavalry charge. Thomas would later surrender, realizing he had lost, with the Spanish army in Ireland in shambles and Sligo having fallen to Charles. Donough now faced a new threat, the might of England. But complications in Britain would change the war.

Parliament was furious at Charles. The war had stretched on far too long for their tastes, and Charles's expenses were driving England near to bankruptcy. The Dutch declared war on Britain, and that was the final straw for Parliament. Parliament raised a loyal army and declared that England would no longer be a monarchy, but an aristocratic republic. Charles had to act and so opened peace negotiations with France and Spain. Spain had its own matters at hand.
The Portuguese, with English support, had risen up in revolt. Feeling the Iberian Union a failure, Spain saw it's territory in Portugal in flames as a sign that their empire was on the decline. Fearing the worst, right after the loss of virtually all of their territory in Central Europe, Spain surrendered, needing to focus on Portugal.

The treaty of Utrecht had delineated the results of the war. Ireland itself would be partitioned, with areas of Northern Ireland, from Sligo to Dundalk under English rule, but an independent Ireland under the Irish Confederacy born. England, in order to protect itself, demanded all French treaties with Ireland be rendered null and void in order to cut ties with Ireland, and the Irish Viceroy would be dissolved.
In Italy, the French invasion had swept Savoy, but an abandonment of Savoy would be a disaster for Austria and was sternly refused. In exchange, the Imperial territory of Artois would be ceded to France, while the Duke of Tuscany was replaced by Habsburg emperor Ferdinand III, effectively expanding the Habsburg control over Italy and Southern Germany. Tuscany immediately joined the Urbino Pact, which effectively placed most of Northern Italy under Habsburg influence.
The Duke of Lorraine was deeply upset. Charles IV had believed that much of his land that he had owned would be returned to him, and Austria gave nothing. Despite this, Charles still looked keenly into joining the Urbino Pact in order to defend himself from France.
Venice was not mentioned at all by the powers, mainly as Louis XIII was not necessarily interested in a protracted war with Austria to save Venice. And so the Austrians could finally turn their full attention to the Republic, who would see it's marshland-forts fall under Austrian bombing, and the city blockaded for an intolerable three more years.

Richelieu after the war had approached the Dutch. The independence of Ireland had added another republic in European politics, and due to the inability of Ireland to align with France, it quickly found an ally in the Netherlands. Richelieu decided to heed to the original treaty with the Dutch, and with Louis XIII's consent, ceded the lands of New France to the Dutch. Richelieu had originally wanted to use the Dutch fleet for an invasion of Britain and sold back a sizable portion of the fleet for the Dutch occupied lands of Brazil. This, along with new French interests south of the equator, would drastically alter the colonization patterns of both the Netherlands and the French.

Meanwhile, further north, Gustavus aimed towards finding a marriage partner for Christina, although he himself was much more concerned with events in the South. In Bohemia, Austria had begun the process of converting the Hussite Majority in the region, and many Protestants took sympathy on the Hussites, being called the "First Reformers", many called upon Sweden, head of the Holy Evangelical Empire, to defend the Hussites. Gustav understood that the Hussites were not Lutheran and still heretics, along with the fact that the HEE did not represent the Hussites, for they didn't form a sizable minority like Calvinism to be taken seriously. Despite this, the Hussites pleaded to Gustav in front of a court of the electors of the Empire, pleading for the empire to guarantee their safety, promising supple payments from the bohemian lands in exchange for their help. Gustav would take up on this offer and rallied his men south.
Unsurprisingly, Austria was in little position to fight after the battle of Modena and the 16 year's war, along with their war in Venice, so Austria immediately folded, guaranteeing the security of the Hussite Church, and allowing public practices. Austria had other matters to attend to. The war in Bavaria had been raging for years, with Protestants approaching the capital of Munich. Ferdinand was a competent man, however, and had laid out the plans that his father had laid before him.
 
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