Part 70: Victoria: Chapter 5 - Diplomacy by Other Means: 1815 - 1820

1815 - 1820: Diplomacy by Other Means

As he returns to Stuttgart, Emperor Mathias receives word that Swabia's support for Tarwajali independence has resulted in an unwanted side-effect: Inspired by the example, the independence movement in Swiss Kongo has swelled in size, and voices are being raised for Swabia to allow Kongo to go its own way. Mathias responds by doubling the size of the colonial guard in the region.


He next turns his attention to China, where the Qin-Sibir war has taken a turn for the worse. The Mongols have broken through the lines of the Qin army and are now threatening Nanjing itself.


An expeditionary force is organized under General Stade and sent to Massa for reinforcement and sea transport to Asia.


The war took a heavy toll on the Swabian home fleets. Ten ships of the line, thirteen frigates and most of the transport fleet were lost fighting in the English Channel and Mediterranean. The remnants of the Baltic and Mediterranean fleets are merged and ordered back to port.


Unfortunately, before the fleet even reaches Massa, the war in China ends as the Sibir army storms Nanjing and the Forbidden Palace. Tümen Khan seizes the Dragon Throne for himself, proclaiming the rebirth of Yuan China.



The victorious Yuan-Ming alliance divide the Qin territories between themselves, with Ming getting the southeast coast of China and Vietnam. Not fancying the chances of his twenty thousand expeditionary troops against millions of Yuan troops, Mathias calls off the adventure, accepting the loss of Swabia's strongest ally in the far east.


He turns his attention back to internal matters instead. An order is placed for a large number of warships from the United Kingdom to rebuild the fleet.


The Modernizers in Reichstag push through a temporary elimination of taxation on investors and businessmen to stimulate industrial growth.


News reach Stuttgart that King Juuso of Finland has brought his reforms to a successful closure, and Finland joins the rest of Europan civilization as a modern monarchy.


The old Byzantine Emperor passes away late in 1815, and is succeeded by his Imperialist son Manuel X. In March of 1816, Byzantium launches an invasion of the tiny Khanate of Khiva, adding its territory to its growing eastern holdings.


Not long thereafter, Egypt launches a major invasion into Libya, utterly defeating the catholic republic and taking nearly all its territory in the ensuing peace.



In Swabia, research begins into the methods used by Zuhriman to win almost every battle where its enemies did not have clear numerical superiority.


Contiuing its aggressive expansion, Byzantium violates its guaranatees to the Emirate of Sharjah in October of 1816, invading and annexing the small arab state.


In November, Swabia's defense pact with Byzantium expires. When Swabian diplomats attempt to scheudle a meeting with the Byzantine Emperor to discuss a renewal, they are rudely refused. Manuel X is known to be outspokenly anti-western, and it appears that the centuries-old friendship between Swabia and Byzantium has come to an end.


His anti-western sentiments do not seem to prevent Manuel from befriending Swabia's enemies, as a few weeks later an alliance is signed between Byzantium and France.


Forced to seek allies elsewhere, Mathias forms a military alliance with Dauphine, who voted in lock-step with Swabia at the Stuttgart Congress and have since been drifting into Swabia's political orbit.


France's humiliating treatment at the Congress has not gone over well with its new monarch, Louis XXI, an intelligent and militaristic ruler devoted to restoring France's lost glory. His first move is to launch an invasion of the Mali Sultanate in Africa. The Iberian Caliph quickly intervenes, bringing France to war with its former ally.


With the Swabian army successfully reformed after Zuhrimani patterns, research turns to cultural matters by implemention of the ideas and thoughts of the great Enlightment thinkers.


With France busy, the war debts paid off and things having more or less settled down in the east, Mathias decides to engage in a little imperialism of his own, ordering an invasion of the Sultanate of Atjeh on Sumatra, ostensibly to stop piracy on Swabian shipping lanes. The brutal General Sassnitz is given 10,000 Swabian and 20,000 Javan troops for the task.


The Atjeh army is quickly surrounded and cut down, and Atjeh offers little further resistance as it is annexed into the Swabian East Indies.




Construction of the new Reichstag in Frankfurt completes in October of 1817. Germany's second-largest city and home to a large Protestant minority, Frankfurt has come to be a symbol for the new spirit of Catholic-Protestant cooperation that is emerging within the Empire.


In January of 1818, Byzantium declares war on Persia. As before, Lithuania intervenes, drawing in its own ally Austria and thus surrounding the Byzantines on three fronts.


In February, construction of Swabia's first privately funded factory begins in Bayern.


Spurred on by the business-friendly policies of the Modernizers, a new capitalist upper class is emerging in Swabia's major cities, particularily among its jewish minorities.


Continuing the policy of outreach, Mathias seeks a defense pact with Saxony, but is politely rejected with the reason that Saxony intends to continue its current neutral policies.


Driven on by its growing industrial needs, the Republic of Mazula has begun a massive project to claim the unsettled regions of North America. Vinland has also staked its claim to a piece of the pie.


Research continues along cultural lines into an intrguing new philosophical direction dubbed Introspectionism.


Reconstruction of the fleet begins for real in summer of 1818 with the addition of five frigates and three ships of the line.


Swabia's enlightenment-inspired reforms bear fruit in spring of 1819 in the form of permanent Consulates established at all major foreign courts.


The war in the east ends in June the same year with another humiliating defeat for Byzantium, which is forced to cede large amounts of territory to Lithuania and Austria.


The alliance with Great Britain expires in August and is renewed - the British have proven an unreliable ally at best, but with Austria, Byzantium and France all having taken an openly hostile attitude towards Swabia, the pickings for viable allies are slim.


Zuhriman passes away in January of 1820, five years after the Stuttgart Congress banished him to the desolate island of St. Helena to live out his days.


Looking back at the last five years, it seems obvious that the Stuttgart Congress has failed to achieve its goals, amounting to little more than an exercise in high-minded rhetoric and blatant hypocrisy. The indiscriminate redrawing of maps and recriminating attitude taken towards the defeated has served to create an even more deeply split Europe, and as the instigator and host of the Congress, Swabia is being blamed for all its failures, its carefully gained influence and 'soft' power thrown to the winds. Isolated and viewed with suspiscion by the other continental powers, it will now have to maintain its place at the top by force of arms alone.