Part 6: The Spanish Empire Mini-Update

Part 6: The Spanish Empire Mini-Update



Castille is expanding. I demanded Sicily's annexation through diplomacy and they accepted, adding all of their holdings to our own for only 4 infamy. Our mission to annex Sicily is completed and we are granted a core on Navarra. I was planning on releasing Sicily's original provinces as a vassal state again, but they are so populous and wealthy and I think Castille may hold onto them.



Completing the mission to integrate Sicily gave us another mission to push Austria out of northern Italy. I don't have any interest in pursuing this any time soon, so we're going to cancel this mission as soon as possible.



With Sicily fully under our control now, I thought that maybe we should expand our presence in the Mediterranean even further. To that end, I signed a flurry of treaties with Sardinia. We entered an alliance with them, formed marriages and military access treaties, and then extended an offer of vassalization which they accepted.



Alfonso XII passes away after only a few years, leaving a 30 year old Enrique IV on Castille's throne. Unlike his predecessor, Enrique IV manages to inherit the throne of Aragon and adds all of their provinces to Castille. Since Aragon shares the same culture group as Castille, their provinces come cored and have all of their buildings intact.



With our new Aragonese provinces, our new Sicilian provinces, and our vassals of Sardinia and Savoy, we have a plethora of friendly places in the western Mediterranean from which we can stage attacks or retreat to recover our losses. The inheritance of Aragon bolsters our land and naval forcelimits even further, so a new military buildup will be necessary soon.



The national decision to form the Spanish Nation becomes available to us. We already have cores on all of these provinces, so the addition of cores is non applicable to us, but the other bonuses are very desirable. 2 steps towards Centralization is a fantastic reward. We also receive a bit of prestige and an addition to the base tax in one of our provinces, randomly. We will also gain access to other missions and decisions that are for Spain only and unavailable to Castille.

Spain isn't the only formable nation in EU3. If England takes Ireland and Scotland, they can form Great Britain. Savoy can form Piedmont-Sardinia if they take Sardinia. Italy can be formed by any Itallian state conquering and coring Rome plus several northern Itallian provinces. There are several others as well.



I also institute the national decision to change us from a feudal monarchy to an Empire. This will give us better soft caps on our policy sliders, a morale bonus for better success in war, more magistrates per year for construction and culture, and the unique benefit of a free Holy War CB against all heathen nations.



Now the Spanish Empire doesn't need to become the defender of the faith, or wait to gain papal control, or cross our fingers for a crusade to be called against the Mamluks. We have the flexibility to go wage those holy wars whenever we want.



This sets the stage for a series of of several wars over the next several decades between Spain and the Mamluks.