Part 52: Europa Universalis III: Chapter 21 - To Fight for Glory: 1675 - 1700

1675 - 1700: To Fight for Glory

The prospect for the war is looking relatively good - Lithuania has a large army of mostly cavalry to support France's, but they are deeply afflicted by war exhaustion and will be unlikely to stay in the war long.


With the newly established Imperial Army Recruitment Act, and recent establishment of regimental camps all over the country, Swabia has a solid base of manpower to compete with the more populous France.


A frigate squadron is sent to blockade Ferrara, while the main fleet begins to blockade the coast of Western France.



The 1st army is sent to Saxony to help defend it against the French incursions.


Battle erupts along the border. The foolish French have neglected properly fortifying their side of it, and Champagne and Barrois are taken before they can even react.


They fight all the more fiercely to reclaim them, inflicting a couple of defeats on the Swabians.


A Scandinavian blockade of Lithuania's ports turns out to be all the excuse Lithuania needs to withdraw from the war, leaving France to face Swabia alone.


France settles peace with Saxony in order to be able to focus its forces along the border, but it is too late - the Imperial army has already broken through and seized the entire length of the border.



The Swabians advance through France, scattering the pockets of French defenders and taking the inadequate French fortifications by storm. By August of 1675, the 4th army has reached Paris.


The walls of Paris are stormed, and in November, less than a year after the beginning of the war, France accepts peace, ceding Osnabrück in Saxony and Barrois along the Swabian border.



Osnabrück is turned over to its rightful owner, and France has now lost its last Germanic holding. The war is a complete triumph, and Swabian troops parade through Mainz and Württemberg in celebration.


A few quiet years follow after the war. In 1767, the Duchy of Meissen attempts to secede from the Empire. Before Konrad can react, Austria invades Meissen, eager to grow its own territory at the expense of Swabia. Unwilling to go to war over the matter, Konrad can do little but send a protest as Austria conquers and vassalizes Meissen.




Instead, he turns his attention to Pisa, which is annexed to Swabia in 1677. The entirety of the Italian peninsula outside of Rome and Ferrara is now in Konrad's domain.


The annexation of Pisa and Siena draws considerable protest, and Konrad is forced to make Siena an Imperial City to avoid a severe diplomatic incident.


Construction of a further improved line of forts begins along the French border in 1678, to discourage the Frenchmen from trying to take back Barrois.


Lithuania invades Poland in the same year, despite the fact that it is facing rebellions at home. With its army busy to the west, several Finnish provinces use the opportunity to secede, returning to their homeland.


Despite its weakened state, Lithuania handily defeats Poland, taking large tracts of land.


The Byzantine Empire declares war on the last of the Crusader states, the Knights of Gaza, in 1679. Konrad joins the war on the insistance of the Byzantine Emperor, though this creates considerable upset among the Catholic people of Swabia, who see it as betraying their own to the Schismatics.


The war pits 1,000 Knights against over a quarter million foes, and ends quickly in the only way it could.


Another member states secedes in 1684, this time the Duchy of Mecklenburg. Despite the fact that both Saxony and Austria are guaranteeing its independence, Konrad's patience with secessionists is at its end - war is declared.



The King of Austria immediately loses his nerve at the idea of facing the Imperial Army, asking for peace only days after the declaration. Konrad is only too happy to agree.


The Army of Saxony puts up a valiant fight, but is routed by the 2nd army, which marches on towards Mecklenburg.


Mecklenburg resists for almost two years before finally surrendering. Rather than being re-integrated into the Empire as a vassal, Konrad decides to make an example out of the Duchy by annexing it outright into Swabian Pommerania. This move severely damages his reputation among his peers, but it does add a wealthy center of trade to Swabia's domain.


Saxony sues for peace in exchange for reparations, and calm returns to the Empire.


Cultural assimilation has turned the entirety of Switzerland into a Swabian region, its old traditions of semi-independent cantons and noble council rule fading into the pages of history.


The army is reformed after Scandinavian model over the next few years, replacing the old Maurician Infantry and Caracole Cavalry with more modern formations.


Meissen is annexed to Austria in December of 1691.


By 1694, Kisarna and Gabon have grown into self-sustaining colonies, and have started to generate a modest profit, though it will take a century or more for them to repay their investment costs.


A cheaper method of colonization presents itself as Morocco annexes one of its african vassals on the border of Swabian Kongo. The provinces of Bonny and Calabar are wealthy focal points for the ever more lucrative African slave trade.


With Morocco's chief protector Iberia weakened from internal strife, the time seems right to strike. War is declared in August of 1694.


With Swabia now able to call on the full might of its allies, the Berbers are outnumbered both at sea and land, not to mention that Iberia is in no condition to wage wars at all.


The Imperial Navy enters the Gulf of Almeria, clashing with an Iberian fleet. The Iberians retreat to port after losing a Wargalleon and a Merchantman to the Swabian guns.



Most of the Iberian fleet is trapped by the British Navy in the colonies, and the Imperial Fleet etsablishes a massive blockade around the entire Iberian peninsula.


The inland african empire of Mali offers peace, and since Swabia lacks any ambitions on it, the peace is accepted.


Konrad contracts pneunomina in winter teh same year, passing away, yet another in a long row of Hohenzollern rulers to die before reaching old age. The vote is strongly in Swabia's favor, and his son Augustin II is crowned King of Swabia and Emperor of all Romans.



Iberian fleet squadrons continue to make occasional attempts to break the blockade, but are repelled.


Meanwhile, the colonial army of Kongo has seized control of Calabar, and begun a very lengthy siege of Bonny's formidable fortress. A year passes, then two, then three, and even four, and yet the fortress does not fall.


Great Britain makes separate peace in 1698, tired of what seems to be a neverending stalemate.


Bonny finally falls in the same year after resisting for almost one-thousand and three hundred days. Peace is settled separately Morocco, in which Swabia takes the two colonies it went to war for.



Peace is next settled with the now desperate Iberia. Since Konrad lacks any claims or ambitions on its colonial empire, he instead decides to take them a notch by forcing them to release one of their discontent colonies, Alusal, as an independent state.


Alusal is proclaimed along the eastern coast of Jadakal. The population of Alusal is mainly Granadan Traditionalists, who resent the modernization of Iberian society and the influence of western ideas. They have established a Theocracy, which aims to rule according to Shari'a law.


Missionaries are sent into the newly conquered colonies to convert their backwards population. Swabia's profits from the slave trade is soaring, and it has now become one of its most important sources of colonial income.


By 1699, the colonial administration in Swabian East Indies has become established enough to begin colonization of the surrounding islands.



A new century begins as Swabia continues to extend its global influence, growing ever richer and more powerful. What could possibly lie ahead but more victories?