The Dual Reich

The Battles of Lutzen and Liberec
  • Before I start this is my first TL, so please take that into consideration as I butcher history, I know only a small portion of the history of the area I am writing about (Although I am researching and will continue to research as I write) so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

    Also, the first three posts are simply background posts. If you don’t want to read on the Point of Divergence and the massive wall of text, just jump to the fourth threadmark

    Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, had been at the throat of the Habsburgs for half a decade. The consistent pounding of Habsburg forces under the cunning Austrian Wallenstein had weakened the Swedish army, and Sweden needed a decisive victory to save its ally, Saxony, from an eminent Austrian invasion. And so the battle of Lutzen was fought and changed the course of the war.
    After driving away Austrian commander Papenstein's counterattack against his line, Gustav launched a large cavalry charge against Papenstein's weak line. Before he did so, he had his artillery moved to support the charge, destroying a contingent of Papenstein's cuirassiers, which had gotten close to killing Gustav earlier.
    Slamming into Papenstein's line, the Imperial army collapsed. A well-placed shot had injured Gustav's arm and another killed his horse, but luckily a nearby soldier had managed to grab Gustav and pull him to safety, and some of Papenstein's cuirassiers, in the midst of battle, tried to kill him, but their lackluster forces after Gustav's artillery barrage had made their attempts to seize the King's life futile.
    Gustav would be ridden off by a Saxon lieutenant, where Gustav would remain for most of the battle, as surgeons tended to his wound.
    Despite his injuries, and the insistence on Swedish doctors to have Gustav stay and rest, the Lion of the North would go back to his command post, ordering the now commander of the Protestant forces, Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, to maintain an offensive in the center following the success of Gustav's assault on Papenstein's line.
    The assault that was conducted was only shortly after the cavalry charge, and Wallenstein's center, still reeling from the loss at the flanks, crumbled under the depth of Swedish arm and artillery. Wallenstein's army was in full retreat as he attempted to reassemble his line on the present field, determined to hold the forward positions to Leipzig.
    Wallenstein would learn of Pappenheim's demise, weakening his usually solid demeanor. As Wallenstein's position was struggling to hold, Gustav and Bernhard agreed to launch a cavalry charge to take Wallenstein's heavy artillery, which resulted in heavy casualties but ended with almost all of Wallenstein's batteries overrun.
    Upon losing his battery, Wallenstein would fall back, hoping to pick up reserves in Pappenheim's infantry to reorganize and continue the fight at a later date.
    All in all, the Swedes managed to smash the Imperial army, losing only 3,500 to Wallenstein's 12,000, and his heavy artillery. Gustav survived his wounds, and the Imperial army was in retreat towards Leipzig.

    After arriving in Leipzig, Wallenstein quickly realized the Swedish army, in hot pursuit, would make any defense of Leipzig impossible. Wallenstein then moved his army south towards Bohemia, to regroup and relink with Imperial forces there to muster a defense and possibly counterattack into the North.
    But the Swedes had predicted Wallenstein's retreat. Moving his army south, managing to keep Saxony in the war by sending a token force to reoccupy Leipzig and later Dresden, Gustav secured Saxony, while giving his army rest in south Saxony, replenishing his army with tens of thousands of extra forces, preparing a massive invasion of Bohemia
    Meanwhile, news of the victory at Lutzen convinced France that Austria was on its legs. Gustav assured Louis XIII that an invasion of Habsburg Bohemia would bring the Imperial forces out of the Spanish Netherlands, with only Spanish forces in the Netherlands, the French could easily overrun the region. While Gustav, along with Prince of Orange, Frederick, knew the dangers of the French army in the Spanish Netherlands, the Swedes had been worn down by the war and the entry of Poland-Lithuania into the war would make the war stretch on for longer, so both monarchs took the risk of letting the Spanish Netherlands come into contact with France in order to divert Habsburg forces west.
    The French, already at war with Austria for years now, decided to take upon Gustavus's suggestion by raising an army of 50,000 to invade the Spanish Netherlands, something the Habsburg couldn't afford to lose. The Imperial armies, it was decided, would be split up. 55,000 Imperial forces would hold Bohemia under the command of Ferdinand II, while a combination of 36,000 Spanish and Imperial forces would move under the command of Ottavio Piccolomini to hold off the French and Dutch army until reinforcements could arrive.

    Ferdinand II knew the odds he was facing. Gustav was gathering a massive army of 67,000 Swedes, Brandenburgians, Saxons and Pomeranians to descend upon the Austrian outlet. Both sides felt that Wallenstein's loss had set back any gains in the North, while the French decision to go on the offensive had jeopardized any attempts at reeling in the upstart Dutch. However, despite this, the current situation gave the Imperialists a keen advantage that both Ferdinand and Ottavio realized. The French invasion into the Benelux had angered many princes along the Rhine, who now tossed in their hat with the Imperialists. These duchies, although small, could provide easy troops for Ottavio to hold the Netherlands with.
    The Poles, fearing a Swedish dominated North Germany, while they were at war with Sweden at the same time, decided to send a mix of 3,500 Hussars and 10,000 infantry. The Spanish tercios, the Imperialists figured, could sufficiently hold the heavily fortified positions in the Benelux, while the Polish reinforcements could deter the Swedish numerical superiority they had found.

    Although news reached both Moscow and Konstantiniyye. The Poles were committing deeper into the war in Germany, but their Eastern frontiers lay open: A Russian attack could devastate the PLC while a contingent of their forces was moving into Germany and the Ottomans looked incredibly closely at the Imperial army, now on the backfoot. The Imperial forces understood their frontiers wouldn't be quiet for long.

    1633 would be the decisive year of the war. The Imperialists failed to gather as many forces as promised for the defense of the Spanish Netherlands, only gathering 34,000 out of the 36,000 promised for Ottavio to hold the area with. It was believed the Rhenish armies would supplement the failed conscription efforts. In Bohemia, the Poles arrived, agreeing to place their forces under the command of Ferdinand II. The Swedes were reportedly crossing the Bohemian Alps, where an army of 40,000 under the command of Gustavus himself was moving towards to town of Liberec. Ferdinand knew he had to shove this army back across the Alps before the rest of the army, under the command of Bernhard, crossed, and pushed into Bohemia. And so Ferdinand rode off with 47,000, 8,000 of which were Poles, and had much of his own cavalry replaced by the Polish hussars, believing the Polish shock cavalry to be sufficient to defeating the Swedes or at least dealing significant casualties. Gustav got reports of Ferdinand's army and immediately began setting entrenchments, wishing to wane the Imperial army against a stagnant Protestant line. Ferdinand tried to assault the flanks of Gustavus's army, but the Protestant forces held. Gustav used his superiority in artillery to bombard the Imperial Forces, forcing Ferdinand to launch an assault to try to move Gustav's artillery. the Protestants held in what would become a thick man-to-man fight, as Imperial forces were slaughtered against the Swedish entrenchments. However, Gustav did not anticipate a move by Ferdinand to send his cavalry to perform a rear flanking maneuver, forcing him to withdraw his artillery, which in turn weakened the Protestant line. However Gustav assembled his cavalry, and gave an assault against the Polish shock cavalry, in a brutal fight, Gustav would spearhead a bloody drive to force the hussars back, and regaining control of the position. Despite this, the protestant forces were losing their entrenched positions. Gustav would have his reservists deployed in order to hold the line. Eventually, Ferdinand canceled the assault after heavy casualties from both sides. Ferdinand used his forces to engage in probing maneuvers, to weaken the already tenuous line the Protestants held themselves at. Eventually, Ferdinand had managed to bring in artillery reinforcements, pounding the Swedish line, as an intense exchange of artillery barrages left the battlefield of Liberec smoldering and covered in thick smog. Hours passed of constant barrages, as Ferdinand decided to withdraw temporarily, deciding to try to move and siege Gustav's army. But an early contingent of 5,000 forces under Bernhard's command managed to fight off the Imperial maneuvers, reinforcing most losses the Swedes took and extending the line. Ferdinand himself had gotten 1,600 reinforcements, that he used to replace losses, and then ordered a full assault, launching a massive cavalry charge of over 1,000 horses to unhinge the Swedish line and take the artillery batteries. However, Pomeranian entrenchments managed to make the Imperial cavalry bleed, as forces used bayonets to deter cavalry.
    The fighting in the center resulted in a Protestant counterattack being repelled after large Imperial casualties, and swords and guns were thrown and slashed about in the midst of the battle. Eventually, Ferdinand realized the Polish cavalry, although they had beaten back the Pomeranians, was unable to capture the Batteries on the hills Gustav had laid them in and pulled back. The Imperial army decided to withdraw to more favorable terrain, hoping to catch the infamous Swedish artillery off guard in another battle. The Swedes had taken large casualties, but the Imperial army walked away feeling defeated: The Protestants marched from Liberec and reports of nearly another 10,000 had crossed the Alps, and Gustav vowed to march on Prague.

    The situation in the Benelux was much worse. Fearful of the Rhenish armies and not wanting the French to take control of most of the Spanish Netherlands, the Dutch went on an all-out offensive, hoping to prove to the Rhenish duchies that they could not beat the Dutch in combat. the French easily crushed the initial Spanish defenses at Ypres and Ottavia feared he could not hold Luxembourg with his current forces. The Rhenish armies had given him an extra 8,000, but it was not enough to stop a decisive defeat at Bastogne, and the French forces stormed Luxembourg after fierce fighting at the outskirts, causing Ottavia to retreat his mean towards Liege and Ghent, hoping to hold out long enough for the Imperial forces to win in Bohemia then relieve him.
     
    Last edited:
    War in the Rhine, Bohemian campaign
  • As the Imperial Army reorganized, Ferdinand has to reassess his troops. He knew his plan: Engage the Swedes on favorable terrain, destroy their artillery, push them out of Bohemia, the send reinforcements to Ottavio, who was currently trying to hold in Ghent and Liege to keep an Imperial presence in the Low Countries. The general worried that if he lost the next engagement with Gustav then the Swedes would match on Prague and take Bohemia. This could, under no circumstances, be allowed.
    The Protestant army’s plan was much more simple. The goal was to decisively defeat Ferdinand and then take Bohemia. Fears of direct Polish intervention plagued the Protestant high command, but the Protestants got a lucky break.

    After heavy Polish losses at Liberec, some of the Polish hussar commanders worried that Ferdinand was just bleeding them: After all, they were Slavs, and the Imperial curaissers were held back during the battle of Liberec, under the guise of reserves. The Polish hussars saw how Swedish cavalry wasn’t a pushover, and many recognized easily that the Polish shock of the Hussars wouldn’t work if they went up against a Swedish entrenched position. Ferdinand has promised that the cavalry in the next engagement would be used solely to overrun the cavalry, but said nothing of curaisser support. What was worse was that the open plain horses felt uncomfortable having to march through hilly and mountainous Bohemia, and Ferdinand made sure horse supplies and food were given to the Imperial curaissers first, the Poles second. The Polish infantry, fared much worse. Mauled after Liberec, their officers groaned at the idea of being placed in frontal formations yet again, as Ferdinand claimed they were faster than Imperial Tercios, stating that the Polish Light Infantry would be used solely for probing attacks and a follow up to the Hussar assault. But many still had fears after Liberec, and doubted the skillfullness of the Austrian.
    Nevertheless, reports of a Swedish army of 50,000 entering Podebrady to camp, ready to invade Bohemia. Ferdinand feared the worst. The Protestants were reported only a couple dozen miles from the fort of Plzen, and Protestants in North Bohemia were in revolt. Some of these revolvers were assembled as irregulars within the Protestant army at Podebrady, bolstering Gustavus’s numbers. Ferdinand realized his precarious position, but bargained that Podebrady was flat terrain, and if the Imperialists could overrun the artillery, Ferdinand believed a decisive victory could still be seen. And so he marched off with 43,000 of his remaining forces, deciding against waiting for reinforcements, as he feared if he left Bohemia to dry the nobility might revolt against him.
    The battle began in the Spring, where Ferdinand started off with a surprise attack on Gustav’s forces before they could entrench. Gustav assembles his cavalry to slam in the Polish hussars, eerily similar to the Battle of Liberec, Gustav managed to push the initial cavalry attack away from his line. Gustav then ordered his artillery to be moved back, realizing Ferdinand’s intentions, put both his protestant Curaissers and some of his sturdiest forces to make sure his artillery was secure. The Imperialists decided to launch a series of offensives against the Swedish center, employing their tercios to maul the Protestant forces. The Protestant irregulars managed to fight hard, more than making up for their lack of training when they managed to launch a counterattack, forcing the imperial standard infantry back, leaving only the Tercios to complete the offensive, upon which the Protestants reassembled, and Gustav ordered a curaisser attack to push the Heavy infantry back. Some of the Tercio formations fell back in retreat, only for the artillery and curaissers to turn their fallback into a rout, crippling Ferdinand’s chances of breaking the Swedish center. Gustav understood that the Imperials could keep probing, and without any hills the artillery couldn’t pound his forces like they did in Liberec. In order to utilize his numerical supremacy and force the battle into Ferdinand’s court.
    A Protestant Central offensive was following a central artillery barrage in order to kick up smoke and dust to protect the Protestants. Despite it, the Imperial forces could hear the ghostly stomping of galloping curaissers, as the screams and yells of the Protestant infantry filled the town of Podebrady with the sound of a dragon. Ferdinand ordered anti-cavalry formations, and commanded his forces cavalry to launch an attack on the sides, deploying his curaissers, he would personally lead an offensive to drive back the attack. Gustav saw this, and lead a personal light cavalry charge of his own. The cavalry clashed first, with Sabre’s rattling against the curaissers, who played defensive, taking shots at the Swedish cavalry. But Gustav managed to beat the Curaissers to them, and his cavalry was engaged in furious combat in the flanks
    The battle in the Center was a brutal fight. The Imperials lost their Tercios, but managed to beat off initial shock cavalry charges. The cavalry attack in the center, however, were really an attack to wane the center, as the Protestant infantry managed to catch the exhausted Imperialists and clashed, in a close fight. The Imperials cracked under the depth of Protestant forces, and Pomeranians were reported to have broken the center. Ferdinand wheeled back to save his center, but in doing so it shattered his attempts at beating Gustavus’s cavalry charge, and his curaissers took heavy casualties, until the Polish hussars drove back Gustav. Ferdinand saved his center, but Gustav had managed to force the Hussars off the battlefield, using a well timed feign retreat followed by Pomeranian pikemen moving in to support the exhausted Swedes. The Hussars were forced to move south, under pressure of infantry and Gustav’s reassembled light cavalry to push the Hussars into the Bohemin forests. Ferdinand knew he was losing, but used his artillery to keep the Swedish cavalry at bay, ordering a detachment to reel in the routing Poles. Eventually Ferdinand realized he had lost the day, and moved to reorganize a defense around Prague.

    As the battle of Podebrady was ending, the French assembled another army of 70,000 to descend upon Lorraine, destroying any resemblance of Imperial forces in the region. The Rhenish army of 25,000, originally assigned to support Ottavia in the Benelux, had to be rerouted down to give the French some form of resistance. The Spanish attempted to launch an attack across the Pyrenees, but failed, and their retreating forces left Catalonia open.
    The Rhenish armies assembled their stand near the fort of Strasbourg, in order to maximize every advantage they could get. The French army approached Strasbourg, and the sheer size of the army was enough for some duchies to switch sides, fearing Louis XIII to descend upon them with a fury. The Rhenish army dropped to only 22,000, digging in, the French would move to siege three, but the Rhenish forces, backed up by Imperialists and Bavarians, blew bridges across the Rhine, meaning the only way Strasbourg would fall would be through assault. Louis bombarded the defensive, easily sweeping away the Rhenish artillery, pleas were sent to Vienna to send more reinforcements to save the situation in Western Germany.
    Meanwhile, advances were conducted in the Benelux. The Dutch fought their way to Brussels, and the French and Dutch sieged Liege, forcing the already strained Rhenish to send 5,000 in the hopes of relieving the city. Ottavia conducted an offensive from Ghent to Zeeland, hoping to pull the Dutch back to their territory. However this came at the cost of leaving only a small army to defend Ghent, overwhelmed by French forces, Ottavia realized his mistake.
    Meanwhile, the English political situation was degrading, but that didn’t stop England to move in to strangle Ottavia’s supply in Zeeland, with the Dutch fleet in Biscay, warring the Spanish Armada. Ottavia was being sorrounded by a raised army of 12,000 troops from Holland and 20,000 from France, and the English strangling his only escape rout, he waited in the hopes that Liege could be saved.
    Surprisingly, the French pulled off liege, forcing the Dutch to hold the area alone. France decided to use it’s freed up forces to penetrate into the Palatinate, convincing the state to once again switch sides to the Protestants in order to avoid the French from taking over. The Rhenish were quickly losing their position, but still held out, as Strasbourg was being pounded.

    Back in Bohemia, Ferdinand suffered massive outcry. The Poles has abandoned him, deciding to return back to Poland after the loss at Podebrady. Ferdinand knew he needed the Poles, and sent his curaissers to reel them back in. This had turned into a skirmish, resulting in a Polish defeat, but most Poles were by then dead. Some Polish infantry were killed for being assumed to be traitors, and were attacked and harassed. Poland was furious, and demanded full compensation, while threatening to cut ties with the Habsburg. The Habsburgs were already in debt, and couldn’t afford the demands set by the Poles, and so refused. Poland, in response, assembled an army to invade Silesia, claiming to occupy Silesia until they were paid their fair dues.
    This was a catastrophe for the Habsburgs, who’s position in Bohemia had all but collapsed. The nobility were furious after Ferdinand refused to respond to the Polish invasion, with Plzen surrendering and pledging it’s garrison to the Protestant army, and many other duchies defecting. Nearly ten thousand retinues under Ferdiand’s army were recalled, while the bohemian nobles raised another 5,000 for Gustav to take Prague with. Feeling his position in Bohemia to be lost, he fell back to Moravia, as Austria raised 30,000 new soldiers out of Habsburg direct pocket to regain the position in Bohemia.
     
    Last edited:
    The Empire Strikes Back
  • The Imperial Army had suffered setback after setback. Vienna was worried. The treasury was nearing bankruptcy, a famine loomed over the countryside, continued losses had drained the popolous, and diplomatic isolation left their forces sorrounded in the Benelux, and the Bohemian nobility were up in revolt. The Imperial forces had to come up with a new strategy in order to beat the Swedes and French, the latter of which was pressuring breathing down Central Germany’s neck and slamming the Imperial army in Alsace and Benelux, and the former which had smashed Imperial authority in Bohemia, and left the Catholic army in ruin. And so Ferdinand met with other Imperial leaders (Except Ottavia, who was currently fending for his life in a Zeeland), to devise a plan on defeating the Protestant alliance. The Rhenish army, Ferdinand demanded, would raise another 60,000 from their budget, in order to assemble an army the French wouldn’t beat. This army would be placed under general Raimondo Montecuculli. Raimondo would graciously accept the forces of the new “Rhenish Army”. The West German principalities were angered at the heavy demand, but understood the prospect of increased French influence against the Rhine. Some states, like the Archbishopric of Mainz, offered 5,000 extra forces in order to assist the Imperials in invading the Palatinate, a long time nuisance to the state. Meanwhile, Ferdinand would reorganize the “Army of Bohemia” utilizing the new 30,000 troops from Austria to assemble some form of defensive line. A garrison of 5,000 would be moved to support the fortress of Prague, which stayed loyal. Despite this, the Army of Bohemia was drastically outnumbered, and the Swedish garnered vast support from the local Protestant populations, and many believed that Austrian rule was coming to a close. Bohemian independence seekers flocked to Gustav’s banner, as nobles negotiated with Gustav about the possibility of establishing an independent Bohemia. Gustavus entertained these ideas, but gave no promise. Gustav knew if he won, a weakened Austria would stand no chance against France, which would dominate the continent.

    Both Louis and Gustav knew the threats the growing Imperial army posed to their goals, and decided to assess their position. Gustav would maintain the offensive, placing Prague to siege and holding forward positions against Ferdinand, while Louis would play defensive, wiping Ottavio off the map, crushing Strasbourg and then holding in the Palatinate’s territory within the Moselle. Gustavus promised to prepare and offensive into Bavaria, if the Imperial Army became too much of a threat, and Louis offered to launch an invasion of Catalonia to pull Imperial resources to Spain if the Imperialists managed to threaten Gustavus’s position in Bohemia.
    It was in this war meeting, in Heilbronn, where Sweden and France would enter in an official alliance under the Heilbronn League.

    upload_2019-5-19_12-58-24.png


    The Palatinate possession in Heidelberg faced a Rhenish invasion, forcing Prince Frederick to flee to the Palatinate holdings west of the Rhine. The Rhenish army crossed the Rhine at the end of Summer, using the new harvests to feed their army. The French would burn and raze the fields they occupied East of the Rhine to jeopardize their harvest and weaken the Rhenish Army.
    Raimondo would push south to relieve Strasbourg, but would be engaged by a French cavalry brigade. This skirmish would lead to one of the bloodiest battles in the League War: The battle of Moselle.

    In Bohemia, Gustav gathered an army of 30,000 to bring down Prague, and gathered another 60,000 to put the pressure on Ferdinand’s army. The Army of Bohemia reassembled, and understanding the massive gathering of Protestants decided against relieving Prague, instead focusing on holding Moravia, in order to keep a distance between Vienna and the Swedish army. Deciding to launch a diversionary attack through Bavaria, he assembled 8,000 Bavarians and other Imperial forces under the command of Wallenstein, eager to achieve vengeance after Lutzen, to retake Plzen and unhinge the Bohemian supply line.

    The Second Plzen battle ended in a brutal loss. Ferdinand underestimated the massing of Protestants against him, and the troops under the command of Bernhard were waiting for a Bavarian excursion, and Wallenstein faced an army triple his size repelling his invasion.
    Upon the victory, Bernhard marched into Bavaria, causing massive uproar among the Protestants in Augsburg and Southern Germany, as the Imperial forces were helpless to stop him. The Bavarians quickly faced bread riots in Munich, and Bernhard sweepers North germany, where Wallenstein would be slain at Nuremberg. The Bavarian army was broken, and Ferdinand refused to give up his vital position in Moravia. The collapse of Imperial authority in Bavaria convinced Maximalian to join the Heilbronn league, crippling the connection between the Army of the Rhine and the Army of Bohemia, while convincing many Protestant duchies to defect. The Habsburgs quickly began losing control of the situation and many believed peace should be made, but Ferdinand still held hope that the Army of Bohemia could hold out long enough until winter, and drive Gustav back into Saxony.

    In Poland, the Russians saw the Polish diversion and seized on the opportunity, launching an invasion to seize Smolensk, the Poles, needing to fend off the Russians, withdrew from Silesia, in order to free up troops against Russia.
    This gave respite to the Imperials, however Gustav’s cavalry managed to take the fort of Breslau before Ferdinand, and the situation only got worse soon after.

    Back in the Benelux, Ottavio was forced to surrender early, pounded by the English naval bombardment and Dutch marines landing on the forts. The fortress fell, and Ottavio surrendered, freeing up tens of thousands of Dutch and French soldiers.
    The fortress of liege also fell, and an army of 56,000 approached the Army of the Rhine, currently fighting in Moselle.
    The forces under Raimondo had put the pressure on the numerically inferior French, using Tercios and veterans from Luxembourg to fend off any attack the French made. The battle lasted day and night, both sides losing thousands as consistent cavalry raids and artillery barrages flattened the
    Palatinate dominion. Raimondo had expected reinforcements, but they never arrived. It wasn’t until Raimondo personally inspected his back lien that’s he realized the gargantuan army slicing his rear. Louis would arrive and forced Raimondo off the battlefield entirely, as a heavy cavalry charge to control of the important bridges across the Rhine, strangling supply. The army failed to surrender without a commander, and Louis would not offer any quarrel, massacring the Army of the Rhine as he shoved their forces into the River. Consistent barrages shattered any form of resistance. The battle, soon turning into a bloodbath. The army at the Moselle was destroyed, a Raimondo fleeing with his tail behind his legs, and the Rhine now defenseless.

    Strasbourg would be abandoned, as Raimondo needed to free up forces. Deciding to withdraw east of the Rhine, the once proud army was reduced to 15,000, a mere fraction of what it once had. The Dutch invaded Cologne and the Swedish, wanting to expand their influence, sent an army to invade Hannover. At this point, most duchies switched sides.
    In Bohemia, the Austrian army managed to rebuild itself into an offensive force, something gustav feared could expel him from Bohemia. Ferdinand marched north to relieve Prague, going on the offensive after hearing of the disaster in the Rhine.

    But a situation south changed everything. The Ottoman Empire, seeing Poland distracted and Austria in ruin, marched an army of 75,000 to take Vienna, and the Imperial army had to be rerouted south to save Austria. Prague fell, and the Sixteen Year’s War was over.
     
    Last edited:
    Treaty of Berlin
  • Hey Guys! I made a map of the end result of the war, yes the map is utterly disgusting but hey, I'm not a cartographer, and it serves the point (Although Bavaria is disgusting now that I realize it.)
    untitled (9).png


    The war had ended decisively in the Heilbronn League's hands, so the Imperialists had almost no room for negotiation.
    Gustav understood that a powerful France could be an extreme danger to Sweden, but the French army had already occupied swathes of land from the imperial forces, and Sweden's manpower had been exhausted, while France was only just now beginning to move into a total war stance. The French were able to seize Spanish Burgundy, along with absorbing swathes of Lorraine's territory and annexing all of Eastern Spanish Netherlands. The Dutch, with the support of English, Swedish and Danish ambassadors, annexed Flanders in order to curb French expansion into the Rhine, and ideally keep the Dutch from falling into the orbit of France.
    Sweden negotiated, along with many other Northern Protestant states, to make a separate Holy Roman Empire, this time free from Catholic clutches. The new Holy Evangelical Empire, a conglomerate of Protestant Northern states, recognized Calvinism and Lutheranism as the official religions, pushing the borders of the Holy Roman Empire back south. The Holy Roman Empire, now a rump and weak form of itself, would officially recognize only the Roman Catholic Church, although Calvinist and Lutherans would be guaranteed from religious persecution, and allowed to worship in private. the same was extended to the HEE, of which it was effectively nullified as an extension of Swedish power.
    Sweden joined the HEE as soon as it was formed, giving itself it's own elector status along Brandenburg, Saxony, Hannover, Mecklenburg, Cologne, and Denmark, who also petitioned to join. This new bloc was effectively run by Sweden, with a large military presence, Denmark saw fit to assert herself as a power within the HEE in order to keep Sweden from dominating Northern Germany, however, that decision would prove fatally wrong in the future.
    Pomerania was partitioned between Brandenburg and Sweden. The Dutch decided to join in observer status to the HEE, however, refused to join. The Dutch and Swiss were guaranteed free from both Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, and the Swedes had essentially asserted dominance over the majority of North East Germany.

    Austria had originally rejected the draconian treaty. It blasted the Habsburg influence back an entire century and smashed the Catholic rule over North Germany. But the coming Turkish army was of more concern now. The Habsburgs had to choose new electors, now that many of their electors had gone. Baden would e a choice for now, and the Habsburgs had to fend off the Turks.

    The Poles joined in on the war to save Austria, the latter of which promised the poles compensation for the Silesian incident if they supported their war with Turkey. Poland, eager to find any reason to harm the Turks, agreed, and so the Poles, who were finishing up with the war for Smolensk, which had turned into Poland's favor, had joined the war against Turkey.
     
    Austro-Polish Alliance and the Irish Revolution
  • The Turkish invasion was repelled after a decisive victory at the outskirts of Vienna. The exhausted and undersupplied Austrian army failed to continue the offensive, and the Poles were facing a loss after their initial successes against Russia had been reversed, and the Tsarist forces breached deep into Ruthenia.
    The Ottoman Empire signed a status quo peace, with minimal casualties, many see this as a Turkish victory. The lambasting of the Imperial army in Bohemia had left Austria weak, and the Sultan Murad had forced Austria to give up her ambitions in North Germany. The Turks would be back, and the Austrians quickly realized they were outmatched.

    The French alliance with Turkey and the Swedish alliance with France had effectively surrounded Austria. The Venetian rivalry strangled Austrian attempts at expanding her influence in Italy, and her main ally, Spain was disconnected. Austria would have to find allies

    The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth offered an excellent ally, and the PLC was worried about Swedish encroachment while seeing the benefit of an Austrian buffer between them and the Turks. Wladyslaw accepted the Austrian proposal for an alliance, although this angered the pro-French elements of his country.

    A mutual defense pact guaranteeing protection from Sweden or Turkey was forged, and the Austrians had managed to create some breathing space. Despite this, the Holy Roman Empire was still beset on all sides. An Italian front seemed to be a good option, as the French had little qualms with razing the Venetians.
    The Imperial army would have to rebuild first, however. the Imperial army was bruised and beaten to a pulp, with their soldiers and mercenaries crying for pay. The Austrians decided to invest the next few years developing the economy and getting their nation back into a state worthy of being a great power, and then they would set their sights on the Italian peninsula, and reassert Imperial Rule throughout the continent.

    The English political situation was degrading. The war taxes had hurt the English economy and the war had hurt England's relations with the continent. But the end of the war would give the Irish deep-set fears that the protestants were moving down an endless spiral that would eventually lead to the Protestant conquest of Ireland. An attempted coup would succeed in most of Ireland, however the English to would not back down. The Irish offered dominion status so long as their religion was guaranteed to be safe but Charles I would have none of it, and quickly set his sights to bringing down the Irish rebellion.

    The Irish would respond by looking to states to offer the Irish crown to. Two options showed themselves; The French and the Spanish. Having a Habsburg on the throne might be a lot easier to swallow for some European monarchs, but a Bourbon could project closer to Ireland. Falling under the orbit of either Spain or France wouldn't be ideal, but the coup had already taken off, and only outside influence could save them from the English firestorm.

    Both Louis and Phillip had interests in Ireland, mainly to screw the English, and with the war of Irish independence in full swing and the 16 year's war over both sides eyed the state. Louis sent a letter to the Irish revolutionaries, offering the throne and a French armada to protect them from the English. The Irish entertained this idea but were still apprehensive. The English wouldn't come until later, as Parliament and the king were in a heated argument as to who should have control of the army that would invade Ireland.

    Spain decided it wouldn't wait. Offering the generous gift of an Irish parliament that would be able to make its own home-ruled decisions and the guarantee that Ireland wouldn't be merged into Spain, the Iberian Union would not threaten the sovereignty of Spain so long as they placed a Spaniard on the throne of Ireland.

    France offered a better deal, offering the Irish protection for their own monarch and even suggesting an aristocratic republic should they choose, as long as the Irish swear vassalage to the French throne. This move, most historians argue, was mainly to appeal to the Dutch, who were apprehensive about the French behemoth. Louis knew a French Ireland would spark another continental war, but figured if such a war did break out the Netherlands could fall into France's orbit, and Louis would be securing an Irish vassal and the friendly Netherlands. The Spanish couldn't match this offer, their option still meant Ireland would be a dominion, the French were even willing to give them an aristocratic republic. The loyalists in Ulster revolted, and Charles decided to forgo Parliament by marching an army to Liverpool to amass an invasion force.
    Both France and the Iberian Union couldn't wait much longer, and Spain decided to send it's fleet to Ireland to force them into their sphere. France moved an army to Calais, hoping to finally be able to place troops in England. Louis bargained that if he could land an army in England, Ireland would be forced to accept their vassalage. The Irish were so split a crisis occurred, where Ireland split up in a brutal three-way civil war between the Royalists, supported by the English and Irish protestants, the Aristocrats supported by the French and many of the merchant and middle classes, and the Imperialists, supporting house Habsburg with the backing of Catholic landed nobility.
    The Great Irish War would turn into a bloody exchange between the three powers and soon extended to almost all of Europe.
     
    Conflict in Eire
  • Ireland’s civil war had come at a horrible time. The English navy was mobilizing, and Charles vowed to descend on Ireland with a fury. The Aristocratic bloc formally accepted the French proposal in 1635, but no side would take any military action until 1366 when the war is recognized to have begun by most historians.
    Donough MacCarty voted Chancellor of the proclaimed Irish Confederacy, held coastal land from Dublin to Cork, but for protective purposes had it’s capital in Kilkenny to avoid the English bombardment. The Irish Confederacy had amassed an army of 40,000, a modest army given his circumstances, Donough would make the most of this army to prepare an offensive in Ulster. He recognized the English as the most prevalent threat and believed that if he could show the French the Irish was a worthwhile investment that could hold itself he bargained that France might commit enough to deter English aggression, and he could focus on the pro-Habsburg elements of his country, and drive them off the Isle. Donough made contact with Louis Xiii through Richelieu, in order to negotiate a military agreement with France.

    The Habsburgs took charge of the Imperial-Loyalist forces in the East, who, with the support of conservatives and clergy, overran territory from Limerick to Sligo in the name of the new “Viceroy of Ireland.” An Irishman himself and having spent time as a Spanish mercenary, commander Thomas Preston was chosen by the Spanish due to his past affiliations with the Habsburg throne. Thomas amassed an army of 20,000 and has another 50,000 guaranteed by Madrid to support him, that would arrive soon. He knew with a minuscule army that for now, he’d have to play defensively, striking the Confederates when he could and letting the English and Confederates bleed themselves as he snuggles the Spanish army into Ireland. Then he will launch his grand offensive to take Ireland in the name of Phillip iii.

    Meanwhile, the supporters of Charles in Ulster were awaiting his arrival. Mainly compromised by nobles and Protestant loyalists, the Royal supporters only recognized the Kingdom of Ireland with Charles as their sovereign. The Protestant forces amassed around 9,000 forces mostly irregulars, it was clear the Protestant forces desperately relied on Charles to arrive with haste to drive the Catholic heathens off the Emerald Isle. Charles himself was still in Liverpool, with a gargantuan 80,000 army ready to smash resistance across the Northern Channel. The Parliament still wanted to strangle Charles’s authority and bribed admirals to not move until Charles allowed Parliamentary officials to run the army, instead of Charles. Instead, the King decided to march north to his dominions in Scotland, deciding to offer Scottish nobles landed titles in Ireland if they promised to give him a fleet and also ignored the English parliament. They accepted although the delay would have ramifications as to the course of the war.

    Donough has set off with an army of 20,000 from Dublin to drive into Ulster, gathering support from Catholic peasantry. Many of the peasantries, however, had sympathies to Thomas’s army and would leak information to the Habsburgs, giving Spain a decisive advantage.

    Back in France, Louis had to deal with the fallout of peace. With Habsburg wife was furious about the seizure of Habsburg land and was angered at his support for the Irish aristocracy and secular merchants. Richelieu had caught on and understood that Louis was mainly commuting to Ireland to bring the Dutch under his sphere, which would do wonders for French naval projection. Richelieu decided to ride off to the Netherlands to negotiate further relations.

    The French sent an ultimatum to Spain to back down, but once they refused, France declared war. This was as much a move against Spain as it was in favor of the Netherlands, as the French war with Spain could be a bargaining chip to organize relations with the Dutch. The English navy moved into the Channel, keeping a watchful eye for the French navy. The Iberian fleet decided to take the high seas route, flanking away from the Bay of Biscay, hoping to reach Ireland undetected.

    Charles crossed the North Channel in the autumn, just in time for the Irish harvest to be used to feed his army, although Charles had originally wanted to reach Ulster by summer. As the English army began unloading, Donough made a beeline towards Charles, hoping to defeat Charles while his forces were still unloading. Donough had engaged in battles with a Protestant force in Dundalk and entered Newry a day later.
    The Habsburg forces watched closely, as they held their forces close to the shore, awaiting the arrival of the Spanish army.

    The French Mediterranean fleet was pinned, and in order for the full invasion to be complete, the southern navy had to be linked up with the Northern one. The French fleet moved south, engaging against small Spanish ships in the Bay of Biscay, looking to weaken the Spaniard fleet. The French patrolled and raided the Spanish coast until finally a Spanish Armada was sent to deal with the French. Galleons clashed off the coast of Galicia, and harsh winds nearly shoved ships ashore. The Spanish eventually had to withdraw after repeated well-timed shots on one of their capital ships, and a Spanish frigate had most of it’s back blown by the French fleet.
    The French boarded the ship and looted it. The Spanish commander was interrogated and released news of a massive Spanish fleet in the high seas, along the North Atlantic, that was trying to send support to the Irish. The news was hastily sent back to Paris.

    The Spanish were able to force the French fleet back, but the losses had allowed the Mediterranean fleet to slip across the Gibraltar Strait. The Spanish decided to reorganize and strike the French again in their own naval offensive, gathering newly laid out galleons and light ships to strike the French southern coast, launching a raid upon Bordeaux. The French responded with a successful repulsive attack, but the French fleet had been damaged and was in need of repairs.

    Louis knew his fleet couldn’t respond to the encroaching Spanish fleet that would almost certainly doom Donough’s army, so he came up with a solution.
    The Irish Confederacy would have to withdraw from Ulster. They would let Charles’s army enter and Donough would fall back and let the Spanish and English duke it out. Meanwhile, Louis would figure out a plan to send support to Donough, for the Royal Navy would most certainly put the Island under blockade. On the mainland, he had many advantages. The fall of the Spanish position in the Benelux had severely harmed the Habsburg position in the West and Louis felt secure in the belief that the Austrians were too busy rebuilding to attempt to fight him, so he eyed the Spanish possessions in Italy as a possible front. Louis gathered an army of 100,000 to descend on Spanish Italy, hoping to convince Madrid to back down. The French demanded that Savoy back down and let the French pass, but Savoy saw how Louis chose to take the land he occupied in the Benelux and refused. Louis knew that the opening of the Italian front would almost certainly provoke a war with Austria, but he reasoned that he could defeat the Austrians and push into Italy.
    Richelieu learned of Louis's provocations, and he along with Gustav of Sweden sent letters to Louis demanding him back down. Gustavus had not wished for another war, for he was still trying to rebuild the Swedish population and was looking west towards setting colonies in the Americas, a venture that would almost certainly be jeopardized by naval ventures against Britain or Spain. Richelieu still wanted an isolated war, and so was able to temper Louis's ambitions of quickly knocking out the Spanish in Italy, but Richelieu used his connections with the Medici family to allow the Grand Duchy of Tuscany to join the war, to tie down the Spanish in Italy. This infuriated the Austrians, but they remained neutral.
    Fernando of Tuscany knew he couldn't go on any offensives, so he decided to launch raids to divert Spanish attention to him and then simply defend using the fortification of Florence and Pisa to his advantage. Louis still wanted to push into Italy, but Richelieu feared Austrian intervention and his wife was livid at the prospect of her dynasty being dragged into an even deeper hole. Louis thought up ways to pull Austrian attention East, like asking the Turks for another attack on Vienna, but the Sultan refused. Louis would wait for a moment, and then would he would have his Italian front.

    Donough had been told about the coming Habsburg army, and so retreated. An English marine landing at Dublin was repulsed, but Donough feared the city might need to be abandoned. He had a force protecting it but knew if either the English or Spanish attacked he would leave it. Kilkenny was still the most defensible place within the Confederacy, and so he assembled his main force there, to wait out the storm. This was an unpopular move, but Donough would have to make it if he wanted to see victory.

    As winter approached, Charles marched all throughout Northern Ireland, learning from Donough, who purposely left the message at an abandoned encampment, of the coming Spanish army. He ordered his ships to search for the flotilla and destroy it before it landed, while he decided to focus on the weaker forces under Thomas first, knowing he'd have to eliminate the Irish forces before the Spanish arrived, if they did, that was. Charles also suffered a major setback: The parliament refused to move the English navy, and the Scottish navy simply not enough to stop a Spanish invasion force and blockade Ireland, although he knew he would need Ireland under blockade so England could keep the Spanish or French from pulling a stunt like this again. Charles decided to push towards Limerick, as Thomas engaged in a scorched earth policy, stealing the autumn harvests from the local peasantry as he breached wells and slated fields. Although this would have a devastating impact, especially later in the war, it hurt the public opinion of him, and made many peasants begin to look for alternatives to the Irish Viceroy.

    Charles was soon fed up with Parliament’s charades and decided to send a direct demand to each individual admiral to support his aims lest they be executed for treason against the crown. Most of the admiralty gave in and sides with Charles, as Parliament looked for other ways to assert their authority, they looked towards other places to threaten Charles’s position in Ireland and by extension England.
     
    Last edited:
    A Western War
  • The conflict in Ireland had sent shockwaves throughout Europe. With Western Europe embroiled in war, it gave many nations throughout Central and Eastern Europe to take a breather from the Sixteen Years War, and repair themselves. Sweden had time to rebuild, strengthening relations with Brandenburg and Saxony, and using their new ally in Hannover to reposition a fleet. Nevertheless, the Danish sound tolls would spell a coming conflict. But any conflict with Denmark would have to be postponed as Sweden began to repair itself.
    Gustav had returned to Sweden a hero, and as the next few years went by, succession had become a major point of conflict. Upon returning home, many statesmen had come to him, attempting to negotiate an arranged marriage with Gustavus's daughter, Christina. Gustav needed to solve this issue, but Gustav was less concerned with succession than the management of his empire. It was his dream to force open the pesky sound tolls and let Sweden become a colonial power, to stake Sweden's claim on American soil and forge an overseas empire.
    Christina herself was in near constant argument with her father. A military man and a firm believer in traditional duties, he came home appalled seeing Christina wandering Drottningholm Palace with untied hair, jogging in men's shoes and even taking an open interest in celibacy. Gustav wouldn't have it and immediately placed Christina in rigorous disciplinary training in order to change her ideals. This created a large divide between him and Christina, but Gustav was forced to recognize the threat to court stability Christina could cause if she kept her current attitudes.
    Gustavus spent much of his time refitting the Swedish army, as he aimed to move onto a war with Denmark to break the monopoly over the Oxsund sound and open the North Sea to Swedish ships. Sweden's position in Pomerania had its forts renovated, and Gustav knew that the Hohenzollerns, who had gone into wars with him in the past, could be a great buffer between him and Austria if he played his cards right, so Gustav sent gifts and diplomats to Brandenburg in order to make sure relations were as nice as could be. Mecklenburg and Saxony too saw Swedish treatment, allowing Swedish troops to be positioned in Saxony, with the promise of Swedish payment for the troops and the Swedish payment of two new coastal forts for Mecklenburg.

    The Habsburgs had their own court struggles. The Holy Roman Empire was reorganized, with new electors being given out. Bavaria was seen by Austria as a stepping stone to an idea that Ferdinand had, which was to centralize the Holy Roman Empire under the Habsburg banner. Maximilian of Bavaria had been seen as a loose cannon by the Austrians. The protestant revolt in Augsburg hadn't been put down, and the Bavarian army would not deal with it. Although Ferdinand saw fear in having Bavaria go protestant out of spite of the Habsburgs, Ferdinand only saw that as a success, as Ferdinand could then use that as a path towards placing a Habsburg on the throne of Bavaria, and locking down Southern Germany under the Habsburg domain, which would be a big boon, especially after the loss of the Benelux. And so Ferdinand came up with a devious plan.
    Austria began to secretly fund the protestant rising and supported local protestant revolutionaries throughout Swabia. In order to destabilize Bavaria, Austria bought out nearby mercenaries, forcing Bavaria to use expensive foreign mercenaries or conscript its own population. The Austrians postured and threatened Bavaria, demanding they deal with the Protestants who now suddenly found a large boom after Austrian funding. The state of Wurzburg, which was on the decline, had been given an electorate. Wurzburg was a defiant rival to Bavaria and its addition would cripple Bavarian attempts at asserting herself. Despite this, Maximilian's absolutist policies were able to weather the storm and Bavaria did it's best to hold out against increasing Austrian influence, for now at least.

    Richelieu has managed to negotiate a very successful treaty with the Netherlands. After nearly a year of haggling, the Dutch stadholder William II had agreed to certain negotiations. William knew the risks, with both Spain and England, the two largest naval powers in the world with their full force, William refused Richelieu's request of support, instead, Richelieu managed to make a decisive negotiation. Richelieu sold the colony of New France for payment in the transfer of 47,000 tonnages. The Dutch ceded a large fleet in exchange for New France, with the Richelieu offering the French Caribbean for 80,000. French Guadeloupe and Guyana were given to the Dutch, along with Martinique and recognition of Dutch Brazil. the Dutch had given even more than promised, giving a total of 152,000 tons of ships. This was a massive boon to Richelieu but effectively meant the French would have to start from scratch in terms of colonization, but Richelieu saw this as a worthwhile investment to defeat the English. Still, even with the new advantage, the French navy might still not be enough. Louis was angered at the treaty, but Richelieu was smart and made William sign a clause that the territory would only be given to the Netherlands in the event of a French victory. This made the Dutch openly interested in seeing the French win. This would be a catalyst and an interesting point within Dutch history.
    The French amassed this fleet. Now they could finally move onto the offensive. the French combined the new Dutch fleet with their own to create a devastating armada that they could finally use to assault the Royal Navy.

    The Scottish navy engaged the Spanish at the Battle of Sligo Bay. The battle was a Spanish victory, with the Scotts unable to stop the Spanish Armada. However many galleons had to withdraw, and so the Spanish fleet was very sensitive and tender in the months after the battle.
    The Spanish successfully unloaded their army at Limerick, where Thomas had lost against Charles at Galway but had bought time for the Spanish to assemble their forces. An army of 56,000 had been assembled. Many of the Spanish died in transport, but all of these losses were replaced by the Irish. Thomas took charge of this army and decided to launch a counterattack. The Spanish army had been fed and greeted as heroes, being well rested, many of the Spanish were excited to be on land. Thomas was delighted to have the infamous Tercios, which rattled Gustavus's nearly impenetrable army in the Sixteen Year's War. Charles's army was beginning to starve, with the onset of winter, many feared the snow, and his exhausted army was weakened by guerilla warfare by Thomas's and Donough's troops. Charles decided to rest for some time, utilizing what little the peasantry had to feed his troops, and giving his men fish that had been captured from some of Galway's citizens on Friday hauls, and abused the fish demand to feed his army. Even then, Charles feared his current army might not beat the Spanish. The Scots promised more support, and parliament folded in some areas, with another 25,000 moving to Ireland once spring arrived in order to feed his troops. Charles's originally large army of 80,000 had reduced to 62,000, and the Spanish tercios could rip his forces apart if he wasn't careful. Charles soon got reports of a North-marching Spanish army of 49,000 riding towards Mountbellow. Charles decided to bring a force of 55,000 of his own to hold the area, deciding to use the flat plains as an ideal spot for his cavalry to damage the enemy.

    Thomas rode to Mountbellow eager to redeem himself. The Spanish put a lot of trust in him and he didn't want to fail the crown. Thomas encountered Charles at Mountbellow, just as the first snow hit. A deep fog blanketed the battlefield and made vision harsh. Artillery would be much less useful in the thick snow. Charles still believed his defensive position would be enough to make Thomas bleed, but Thomas felt overjoyed. advisors reported hearing Thomas openly thank the lord for the snow, which he knew would give the Tercios the breathing space needed to get up close. Thomas held for a near hour, letting the snow lay the battlefield as many suffered from the cold. The Irish snow froze horses and made pikes stick to the hands of soldiers, and as many soldiers would die of hypothermia after the battle than during. Thomas then ordered an artillery barrage, emulating Gustavus's strategy at Podebrady. Kicking up the snow, the Tercios charged behind a cavalry probing attack. Charles had spotted the army through the fog and ordered his forces to brace. Clashing in the center had deterred the cavalry, but the Tercios slammed into the English line. After the Thomas sent his light infantry to attack the sides in order to tie down Charles's forces, and horses slapped against each other in the snow, with the now blizzard rendering even curaissers weak. As Charles began to lose control of the situation, he decided that instead of standing for a slaughter he would withdraw, deploying his pikemen to tie down the Spanish as he let his forces retreat. Charles suffered a major setback, with thousands dead, Charles would run back to form a forward defensive formation around the Lower Lough Earn and waited in East Ulster for reinforcements. The cold Irish winter would kill even more of his men, and the Spanish cheered as victory seemed close. But the war itself was nowhere near over.
     
    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.
     
    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.
     
    Top