Part 58: Europa Universalis III: Chapter 27 - Zuhriman: 1760 - 1780

1760 - 1780: Zuhriman

The Reichstag of 1760, dominated by liberal tendencies, passes the Imperial School Act and votes to ban Slavery and Slave Trade within the Empire.



With slave trade banned, the Swiss upper class in Kongo can no longer export slaves - officially, at least - and the economy in several provinces grinds to a temporary halt.


Soon enough, a new use is found for the many slaves that cannot be exported - 'contracted' labor on the vast estates of the white landowners. Though not as profitable as the trade with slaves, it keeps the local power structure intact, and prevents the colonial elites from doing anything more than angry grumbling.



In 1761, Barasya in Iberian America declares independence. Unfortunately for the newly founded Republic, neither its British, Moroccan nor Mazulan neighbours are particularily eager for a new neighbour, opting instead to invade in the hopes of quick land grabs. By the time Barasya has signed peace with all its opponents, it has been reduced in size to three provinces.



A modernization of the Imperial Navy begins in 1762. Threedeckers and Heavy Frigates are built to replace aging Galleons, which are in turn sent to the colonies to replace decommissioned Caravels.


The newly settled province of Benguela south of Kongo is made into a Imperial Colonial Center in
the interests of consolidating Imperial power over the rebellious Swiss landowners.


Poland's independence comes to an end in 1763 as Warsawa is annexed by Lithuania.


Troubled times are beginning in Iberia. Though initially adored by the population for restoring order, the Tahirid Dynasty are proving to be reactionary despots who have stepped down hard on its liberalization movements, forcing tens of thousands of Iberians into exile in Mazula and Qtizi. With the aid of Mazula's government, the exiles have begun funding a revolution back home, which has quickly spread to the impoverished lower classes. The leader of the exiles is a former Iberian officer by the name of Ibn Zuhriman, a tactful and calculating man who is known as much for his brilliance on the battlefield, as for his miniscule stature.


Konrad IV passes away in May of 1765. His son and heir, Augustin III, is not quite the diplomat his father was, but he is a superb administrator, a hard-working and honest ruler who wholeheartedly believes in his responsibilities to his subjects. Unfortunately, this patriarchal belief has also turned him into a reactionary who sees the new liberal movements as a danger to Swabia.


In the interests of keeping up with the other Great Powers, the size of each of the five home armies is increased to 30,000, bringing the total size of the Imperial Army to 150,000 men, with an equal number of reserves.


The new Imperial Navy stands ready in 1770, cementing Swabian control of the seas.


Konrad continues the policies of his father, funneling money and weapons to revolters in the chaotic French Netherlands.


News reach Europe in 1771 that the Sultan of Muhajedz has won the throne of Asmanakul, forging the two largest countries in Jadakal into a single union.


By 1772, revolters in Aquitaine have succeeded in freeing the country entirely from French rule, and France no longer dominates the Pyrenean cultural sphere. Defense pacts are also forged between Aquitaine and Dauphine in the interests of keeping things that way.


France, however, has more pressing concerns than the breakaway Pyrnean republic: Inspired by their Iberian brethren, the liberals and middle classes of France have risen in open revolution against the French monarchy. As with the Iberian revolution, the lower classes, whom have had years of social chaos and oppressive taxes forced upon them, are quick to flock to the banners.


In winter of the same year, the tensions between the two dominating power blocks in Europe finally erupts into war, as what begins as a French raid against a Byzantine settlement in India escalates to a full-blown conflict. The Byzantine Emperor declares war on France with the vow to expel it and its ally Lithuania from India.


Byzantium, Swabia and Great Britain stand poised against France, Lithuania, Scandinavia and Austria. The numbers are not on Swabia's side this time, and with the Byzantines busy defending their continent-spanning border with Lithuania, it is likely that Swabia will have to deal with both France and Austria alone.


Immediately upon war being declared, an Austrian army enters Mecklenburg, attacking the 4th army garrisoned there. The Austrians prove superbly drilled troops, using Carabiner cavalry to encircle and lay down a volley of fire on the Swabian infantry regiments.


The battle is a crushing defeat for Swabia, and what's worse, the Austrians pursue the retreating 4th army into Pommerania, wiping it out altogether. A fifth of the Imperial Army has been wiped out in less than a month of fighting.


The 1st and 2nd armies, meanwhile, have crossed into French territory and engaged the French forces stationed there.


The Baltic Fleet moves to blockade Öresund, preventing Scandinavia from sending troops down through Denmark.


As battle erupt along Swabia's borders, the Lithuanian and Byzantine giants are fighting along a front stretching from Carpathia to the Aral Sea.


Having failed to learn their lesson from the last war, the French fortifications along the Swabian border are still woefully inadequate, and in spring of 1773, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd armies break through the French lands, quickly seizing control of the entire French side of the border.


The 4th army, meanwhile, is in full retreat after a devastating defeat against an Austrian offensive into Franken. The Austrian army is proving to be vastly superior to its Swabian counterpart on the battlefield, and Swabia will have to put its hopes in the Breitmayer Line, a series of expensive fortifications built several miles deep along the entire Austrian border.


In the East Indies, Govenor Vogel launches his own campaign, sending the 1st Colonial Army to seize control of France's island colonies. Timor and Ambom prove lightly defended and are quickly conquered.


The Swabian offensive into France faces no such impediments, and by July of 1773 Paris is in Swabian hands.


After ten months costly fighting has achieved nothing but a stalemate, Lithuania loses its interest for the war, agreeing to a separate peace with Byzantium in exchange for having its interest sphere in India recognized. Not long thereafter, Great Britain makes peace with France, a peace that is of little consequense as it had not even contributed to the war with a single frigate.


The war in the East Indies has ground to a halt, as the French island of Sumba proves too heavily defended for the lightly equipped colonial forces.


With Lithuania out of the war, Byzantium is now free to focus its attention on Austria, sending 50,000 troops across the border in January of 1774.


In the face of the rapidly advancing Imperial Army, French defense has crumbled, and Swabia now controls the entirety of the French heartland.


The remaining French troops have retreated to the Netherlands, fortifiying themselves along the coast. The Imperial Navy has established a blockade to prevent them from being supplied by sea - or escaping.


In sharp contrast, the Austrians have been bogged down in East Swabia by the Breitmayer Line. Well supplied and enthusiastically defended, München, Tirol and parts of Bayern have held out against their besiegers for over a year.


By April of 1775, the rest of the Netherlands except for Friesland have fallen. Several offenses into Friesland are repelled by the large French army present there, but the French are out of supply and cannot possibly hold their positions infinitely.


Byzantine troops are marching across Austria, and have almost reached its German-speaking parts in July.


Austria sues for peace in August, ceding Banat to Byzantium.


Suddenly very much alone, France's remaining will to resist vanishes when Friesland falls in November.


Rather than demand territory for Swabia, Augustin brings a harsh condition to the table - France must release all its Dutch-speaking lands as a single country, the Kingdom of Netherlands. Byzantium, likewise, demands the liberation of the Duchy of Liege and Aceh in the East Indies, further reducing the size of France's already diminished colonial empire.


Freed from French rule at last, the Kingdom of Netherlands joins the alliance of former French domains by signing defensive pacts with Aquitaine and Brittany


Swabia's colonial Empire has grown at France's expense, with the addition of three formerly French islands - its other possessions in the East Indies proved too tough a nut to crack for Vogel.


The Kingdom of France is a shadow of its former self. It is still a Great Power, but it has been reduced to its French and Flemish core lands, and it seems that France's days of glory have come to an abrupt end.


Two quiet years follow, as the war-torn Great Powers rebuild and quell the occasional peasant revolt. While Swabia, Austria and Byzantium rebuild, however, France and Iberia continue to descend into chaos. In March of 1778, a revolutionary army lands in Granada, aided by sympathizers in the Iberian navy. They march on Cordoba, taking the city's defenders completely by surprise. The Royal Palace is stormed - only to find the Tahirid Caliph missing. Warned by one of his spies in the last minute, the Caliph has boarded a ship, fleeing back to Yemen.


Abandoned by their monarch, the remaining loyalists surrender to the revolutionaries. The Republic of Iberia is proclaimed, and General Zuhriman is made its Consul.


Zuhriman's first act as Consul is to send troops and money to support the French revolutionaries, and with Iberian support, the French monarchy is overthrown in January of 1779. An Iberian-style republic is installed, with Iberian 'advisors' staying behind in Paris to help the French reform their country.


Louis XXI remains nominal head of state for the time being, though a constitution is drafted stripping him of essentially all his powers and privileges.


Refusing to bow to a revolutionary puppet king, Ferrara frees itself of its union with France, proclaiming the independent Kingdom of Ferrara.


In light of the revolutions, France and Iberia's allies have severed diplomatic relations with the new regimes, and Consul Zuhriman and a less than enthusiastic Louis XXI sign a military alliance treaty in July.


In November of 1779, France declares war against the Byzantine protectorate Liege, sparking the first of the Zuhriman wars.


It would not be the last.