Thursday, November 15, 2018
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
The Moroccan Wars of Expansion {Part 1}
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| {North-West Africa; Circa 1747} |
While the Austrian War of Succession was wrapping up, trade was starting to increase, especially catching up with the newly established American and British trade in the Ivory Coast. This profited much of the tribesmen and helped fund rebuilding in the former Fulani state, the Isowo Isokan Their influence reaching the border of Morocco, they were the 1700s equivalent of Mansa Musa's empire. In 1747 much had been restored in terms of the order in the region of the ivory states. Recovering from the combination of a civil war and lack of trade from Europe due to the War of Austrian Succession.
Isowo Isokan, 'The Trade Union', had a relatively valuable part in Africa, being the second nation in Africa that America had formed relations with, the first being Morocco which had recognized its independence from the get-go. Due to this, it was getting wealthy, and it's influence increased loyalty, it provided a good source of progress to the Ivory Coast mainly due to it's progressive economic and bartering systems. Rightfully receiving the nickname of Venice of Africa.
This did not sit well with Morocco, itself had just got out of a lengthy war of succession nearly two decades prior. Morocco hadn't had a chance to truly prove their superiority. Their connectivity with the events in Europe presented a wonderful chance for this. They started a Trade War on the Isowo Isokan. Blockading all trade from the Isowo going through the Moroccan sphere of influence. Moving troops south into the unoccupied tribal regions of the Sahara in order to block Isowan trade from preventing Moroccan trade.
This brought up a problem for the Isowo; ever since the civil war ended they hadn't had to mobilize any major forces, instead of using the wealth of their tradesmen to bribe tribes into uniting with the Isowo. The only navy that the Isowo owned were 4 shipwrecked European Sloops that had been refurbished.
The Trade Council called into session, while the Moroccans didn't stand a direct threat to their country nor their overall trade, they were encroaching on their Western and non-union trading. Before then, the trade council agreed that the only military would be each tribe/communities own militias that would be used in case of emergencies. Now they had to mobilize these proto-minutemen, and seeing as how they had just gotten out of a war, the Tribe leaders weren't certainly enthusiastic of that idea, this was certainly not an emergency according to the vast majority. And so the trade war carried on.
By the beginning of 1748, Moroccan expansion had taken an extent that was unprecedented by the Isowo, due to 'assimilation' of unorganized tribes. They were becoming a clear threat to the region. Yet showed no sign of violent hostility towards any of the Federations or Trade states it had bordered.
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| {North-West Africa; Circa January 1748} |
This changed Morocco declared war on the Imamate of Futa Jallon bordering Morocco to the South-West, nicknamed the gate to the Ivory Coast {Light Purple on the very left on the Map}.
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| The 'Black Cavalry' - Mirza Cousineau; 1792 {Oil Painting} |
Futa Jallon stood no chance. Morocco - who had spent the previous decade Westernizing their military, in accordance to European standards - easily set a blockade on the outward trade, further invading the country. Little to no resistance due to how minuscule the army and use of firepower was by Futa Jallon. Battles turned into Massacres, the armies Futa Jallon did have were blindly shot down by the organized and disciplined Moroccan invasion force.
Within a month, Futa Jallon surrendered. Morocco, however, would not cease, this is simply the start of their campaign.
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
The War of Austrian Succession {Finale}
By 1746, the armies of the major factions had reached a standstill. Any advance was countered relatively easily, and nothing seemed to be the end of the fighting. On January of that year, the French had decided to bring forth a new strategy in an effort to make the war as defensive as a means to bring an attrition war upon the factions of Maria Theresa and the Poles. They dug in using trenches resembling those thought up by Le Prestre De Vauban.
Shortly following, was an attempt at the Poles to break the defenders of the area of Munich defenders, in an effort to break the standstill. This proved the effectiveness of the trenches in the specific circumstances, and soon the Poles and Hungarians followed in regards to furnishing the hostile border with light zig-zag trenches. This created a nearly impenetrable WW1-like scenario to which no one would move or try to invade the trenches. If infantry tried to go across they'd be battered by musket fire, and if cavalry tried to move across, they'd encounter the staked trenches and refuse to go further.
The standstill soon turned out to be littered with men, as disease spread throughout the poorly-irrigated trenches. Withdrawing would mean losing land, and charging would result in slaughter. Therefore each side started to look outwards for ways to capitulate their enemies.
The Poles embarked on a combined Scandinavian-Polish naval campaign against British trade ships, getting caught in crossfires with the British navy, although managing to hold upright against them. The Brits established blockades over the French and Prussian (Prussian Jutland) naval borders. Although, the French were able to get flowing, by collaborating with the Ottoman Empire, a well-known enemy of the Hungarians. The Poles collaborated with the Russians to find trade routes, all but the English had resorted to Asian trade rather than the previously much more popular American trade routes. The English attempts at invading the French all ended up in massive failures, while the Netherlands hadn't seen much change in control since the last major battle in the region. Fighting in the area had become hell.
In April a joint offensive was launched in an effort by the Hungarians and the Venetians to invade the Swabian Union in an effort to gain a backhand opening to the Bavarian-French lines, which ultimately failed. Konig Frederick von Wurttemberg and Pierre Victor Benseval, a Swiss general, used the Alps to gain an advantage on the invading armies, to which they smacked back with a surprisingly low casualty count of only 238 men opposed to the 721 of the invaders. Following this, the Swabians launched a Guerilla war against those on its Eastern border, to discourage any future attack. This diverted troops from the trenches of the Bavarians to deal with this threat, and lead to an offensive that was successful by the Hungarians, even going deep into Tyrol before being stopped. and upholding a new system of fortifications, connecting to the deeper trenches. The Bavarians ending up with a trench-system from the South-Western edge of Tyrol, all the way till Southern Saxony, all connected. The cavalry use of all sides had practically become obsolete at this stage of the war
Meanwhile on the other side of the war, in late April, controversially on a Sunday, all nations decided to invade at a similar time, the Tri-Front area, ending in absolute devastation. Schlacht von Drei Punkte, or simply called Schlacht des Rauches, translated as Battle of the Smoke. The charge was commenced by all sides, people died on all sides simply from the amount of discharge in the air. Long gone were the formal days of the war to which disciplined tactics had been used.
"The fields were filled with smoke for days. For a man to die such a cruel death, being strangled in the gray smoke of black powder at the ringing bells of the Lord surely leaves an omen of the Judgement we may all soon face" - Binno Niklas von Bayer, Veteran of the War of Austrian Succession, on the topic of the War, 1782.
A whopping 12,295 died total as a result of the day of fighting. This became the turning point in political viewpoints in the war. People of all three major nations cried for a ceasefire to the war.
None of the nations involved had finished their wrath, each had their own strategy. The Poles wished to seduce Russia into a surprise invasion of the Southern Hungarian front, although Russia had taken a neutral stance and vehemently refused. The Bavarians decided to wait it out, using their elaborate fortification system and almost full control of Mediterranean trade. The Hungarians had come upon a rough patch, not able to get trade lines through anywhere else, the Ottomans increased taxes upon potential passers-by, the Hungarians had to get a step up. They planned what would be the last campaign of the war. A Hannibalistic campaign.
The Hungarians, Venetians, and the Papal States planned a sneak invasion of Haute-Savoie, in order to scare the French out of the war. On December the invasion was launched, seemingly to no eyeing or suspicion by either side, with only minor skirmishes happening on the Drei Punkte, as well as individual fronts. Maria Theresa personally trailed the Armies marching to Haute-Savoie. They passed successfully through Milan by explaining that they were simply sending support to an ally.
Trouble struck upon hitting the Costadellese, they had fortified their regions strictly, the only way to get past would be through the Alps, a dangerous trek, which would leave them without supplies. A plan had been devised though, the majority army of 14,250 with simply cavalry, and infantry, would take most of the supplies and head through the Alps. The rest, numbering about 4,000, a mix between the rest of the infantry, cavalry, and the totality of the artillery, would try their best to trek through the Costadellese land. Both hit setbacks almost immediately.
By the time they got to the impass it was January 25th of the year 1747, which meant that while they were equipped with winter clothing, and provided with animal leather as means of warmth, they still had to face the rough terrain, and hardships, of crossing the Alps in Winter. On the other side, the Army that had to go through Costadella, and had left Maria Theresa with the Milanese as insurance, were battered with retaliation upon crossing the Costadellese fortifications. Without knowledge of the complex intelligence and fortification routes of the Costadellese, the Army had become stranded in an un-crusty see of Costadellese. They'd move at night along-side the mountain in a zig-zag formation, yet still, get battered by shots from the Mountains and Forests on occasion. Trouble had yet to truly strike the Army though.
The Costadellese had been tracking the intruders using a well-built system of defensive scouting, in order to maintain the aggressive neutrality of the Costadella Republica. They decided to wait for the Army to be stripped of morale before engaging, with a ragtag group comprised of decently-disciplined but well-trained militia.
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| The Rout of the Austrians - Amerigo Santo Di Stefano |
On April of 1747, a little over a thousand men entered French soil, no longer seeking to invade, but to surrender. In a village just off of Lyon, they raided the food supply having been clearly malnourished. Upon surrender to the French, a story was publicized around European newspapers, it was an interview upon which one of the Hungarians described the Invasion attempt:
"So it began when we split up with the Army of Maria-Theresa, in an effort to gain an up-hold against your status of the war. We were to cross the Alps, a simple task given we were properly supplied, we held much of the supplies, valid directional assistance, and there were surveyors in our ranks. We started off simple, and well-off, with high spirits. A week into our Journey, we found a split pass, we decided after arguing for days to split everything in half, one going on the left path, one going on the northern path, no one could tell at which direction we were going. The Blizzards had hit and we were informed not to stop our march, some thought turning left would have us back at where we came from. I was simply a rank-musician and was therefore forced as a means to even out the split to join the left army. We marched for days, weeks, it felt like months, the storms hit hard and left us with a deficit of supplies. By the last week, there was no hope in sight, a group of 40 deserted with a vast majority of supplies. We started eating the horses, and some resorted to the cannibalism of the dead. Many perished under snowfall, the Mountains were unrelenting. I feared for my life, I was an un-useful to the majority of the group. We lacked morale, many deserted, many more died. When we came upon the green of the country, we rejoiced and decided that war was not in our spirits or the spirits of anyone in the nations of Europa. Given this, we do not know what happened to the Northern Army."
Following the horrific descriptions of the grueling, gruesome, and useless campaign, many around Europe called for the end of the war for good. Threatening to retaliate with violent force against any further attempts to progress the war. On June 17th, 1747, the leaders of all three coalitions met at Milan. They decided on what would be named the Treaty of Bergamo.
It explained that there would be no more Holy Roman Empire, and the distinction would be stripped from any state, with violent force as a threat if claiming the title. The Bavarians would eventually follow this by renaming themselves the Kingdom of Austro-Bavaria, enacting a new flag to follow it.
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| Flag of the Austro-Bavarian Kingdom |
Forwards to this, there was a clause regarding all newly formed states be untouched for a reason regarding independence following the end of the war. The Hungarians became the Hapsburg Empire, and the Poles became the Kingdom of Saxon-Polska. Following this, an issue was decreed to leave the Drei Punkte Battle-field as a neutral unowned territory as a sign of respect. The Prussians were allowed to keep Lower-Jutland, however, were forced to give up the rest of the Danish peninsula. The Treaty was signed by a total of 8 nations, the Poles, the Bavarians, the Hungarians, the Venetians, the Papal States, the British, the French, and the Prussians.
The War of Austrian Succession was now, finally, over.
Sunday, September 30, 2018
The Genoese Conquest of Savoy {Part of The War of Austrian Succession/Short Summary}
In the early days of the War of Austrian Succession, the Italian front was very much divided, Italy itself being a cluster of states under different varied rule and types of rule, had some fighting among themselves. The Italian front itself was more-over just a wide variety of states trying to get back at each other for the end-goals of revenge.
This cumulated in an 'Italian Front' of the war of Austrian Succession, with Savoy, Venice, Naples, Genoa, and, of course, the Papal States each taking respective stances on the war. Genoa had - for a good few years - been in the process of attempting
to expand deeper to secure their stance in the region, which was mainly contested by Modena, Savoy, and Milan, the latter being the most powerful in the region.
The Genoese were given a great chance to do this when Savoy, along with Naples, decided to take the stance of the Bavarian claimant. This news came around the same time that Venice and the Papal States decided they would support the Austrian claimant, Empress Maria Theresa. This left the Genoese in a stance where they could declare neutrality, as Milan, Sicily, and a few others had, or they could declare war on Savoy. Except, there was a problem, the Genoese had no military to fight a French-supported force, neither did they support the HRE or what it stood for.
So the people were at an impasse, sure Genoa was a Republic, but it had long been known that maritime commanders had been running the show in the government. So on 1741, the Genoese declared neutrality. A month after the declaration, the Genoese sent an invasion force to pillage a village on the border. After the Savoyards found out, they openly confronted the Genoese, to which they cited that they weren't the ones who committed the crime against the Savoy-ards. Whence the Savoyards commenced a retaliatory invasion against the Genoese, the Genoese then stated that it was uncalled for to be invaded, and then proceeded to carry out their counter-attack.
The French failed to reinforce the Savoyard armies, although not for the reason the Genoese presumed, in fact, much of the nearby nations saw through the Genoese lie. The main European allies disregarded their Italian allies as a whole. At this point in time, a major 'European' war, was not about maintaining a status quo, but about individual gain, no one nation entered the war unless they could gain something more than they had before the peace, this included disregarding previous alliances in hope for more to gain.
The Genoese easily steamrolled the Savoyards and forced the Savoyards into a surrender. The Surrender only being accepted upon an assimilation of Savoy into the Genoan Republic, forming the Costadella Republic.
To appease the countrymen of Savoy, the Genoans adopted the Costadella flag as a sign of inclusivity while containing most of their structure.
Sunday, September 23, 2018
The War of Austrian Succession {Part 3}
{Map of Europe by July 1743}*
By July 1743, the 'Second Act' of the war had started, many had taken strong sides, and while some had tried to seek out peace agreements, many had failed. The War had already taken a good few civilian lives but had devastated the countrysides of Silesia and Southern Austria. The goal, although changed, hadn't been achieved yet. These nations knew that whoever won wouldn't be inherent of the throne of the HRE, and even if they would be, that wouldn't mean anything at this point. In fact, it was getting to a point as to where there'd be clear discontent with carrying the name due to the dragging of certain states, regardless of this the war raged on.
On August of 1743, a joint Danish-Swede force invaded Bremen-Oldenburg and Hamburg, owned by the Dutch and the Prussians respectively. The Danish & Swedes had not declared war on either, and it came as a tremendously unpleasant surprise for the Dutch, losing Bremen-Oldenburg nearly a month after. The Prussians, on the other hand, although surprised, managed to hold off and keep a hold of Hamburg due to logistical planning failure on account of the Danish-Swede army. This resulted in the siege of Hamburg, originally planned to be completed merely a week after the Bremen-Oldenburg area had been captured due to a planned sever of the supply lines to the city.
At the same time, the Polish armies invaded Transylvania in an attempt to gain footing against Empress Maria. Maria saw through this, the Polish hadn't taken an official side, and Maria knew that with Silesia that they might seek to establish a certain power by invading her country. The Greater Hungarians fought back the invasion at a relative ease, although the Polish managed to keep a foothold in the area.
The English publicized their official declaration of war on October, bringing along Hannover and the Dutch along with them. To which followed an invasion of the Flanders. The Hanoverians had not arrived in Flanders until after the Siege of Koln {October 13th - November 3rd, which was a very much pyrrhic victory for the Hanoverian side, losing much of their supply and almost a third of their army securing the town. Even more so upon the Ransack of Koln, which left the city in crumbles, following the mass genocide, looting, and other dishonorable acts. Preventing the Hanoverian command from seizing valuable supply, in terms of rations, from the city. The Hanoverians split their army into three, keeping one in a patrol of their newly-gained city, sending one down to support the Flanderian invasion, and retreating the last one to Hanover.
{The Second Siege of Zaltbommel}
On the Southern end of Central Europe, the Wurttemberger-Swiss Union had merged into the Swabian Union, following a takeover by the Wurttemberger King under the guise of an alliance. The Wurttembergers invaded and occupied the town of Liechtenstein, due to the Swabian population in the area of Tyrol, which had pledged allegiance once to the Swabian Union. This, however, had not satisfied the hunger of the Swabian King, and he believed that to become truly Independent that he must re-unite Baden with the newly-founded union.
The Armies of King Frederick lined outside the French border, the French had previously taken a Neutral stance with the Wurttembergers on account of a respected border. The Armies marched into the French territory and captured Karlsruhe {January 8th, 1744} easily, given the reluctance of the Badens to French rule upon their French occupation early in the war. Not sitting well with the French, they set siege to Karlsruhe, which was broken by the Battle of Roppenheim, in which King Frederick brought the French into a Baited Artillery Flank, to which the French army's cavalry was rendered useless by the Grapeshot of the Wurttembergers. The French Coalition, as well as the Wurttembergers, signed the Treaty of Baden. To which the French and Austrians gave up Baden, Tyrol, and Sudtirol in exchange for Haute-Savoie, and a non-aggression agreement.
The first Peace Treaty of the War of Austrian Succession was signed. Although this was only inching closer to the end of the War.
The Prussian Counter-Offensive of February 1744 was the first major campaign undertaken by the Prussians since the beginning of the war and was to retake the areas surrounding Hamburg, as well as gain an advantage against the Dutch, and Danish-Swedish armies. On January 2nd of 1744, the Prussians managed to break the siege of Hamburg and started gathering their western Armies. A month later, the Invasion of Danish Jutland was commenced. The Danish had not prepared well for a war lasting over 6 months and had almost certainly not prepared on being invaded, this led to the rout of the Danish-Bremen occupation, in an effort to stop the Prussian advance. This was to no avail, the Prussians and the Danish met on the Battle of Jutland, to which a cornered Danish force of their last few armies, as well as one Swedish army, surrendered to the Prussian forces after a day of fighting.
On the Bremen front, the Prussians had split up a small force in order to take the recently unoccupied front. The Dutch, however, had the same intentions, and they met the Prussians at the Battle of Oldenburg. To which the Prussians led a backhand flank and silenced the only recently recovered Dutch force for the rest of the war. With the Dutch Netherlands simply further acting as a landing point for the coming English Invasion of Koln {April 19th 1744 - July 2nd 1744}.
The Eastern front of the war had been a stalemate, especially at the Tri-Border between the Polish, Hungarians, and Austrians. In which there had been multiple sieges of Sosnowiec, Saxony, Prague, and Budapest. Yet none had been successful, and many inconclusive skirmishes continued to occur as progress was made in the Western fronts.
The English until then had only believed the Danish-Swedes were to be only after a Greater-Jutland unification, but this had turned out to be the opposite of the case since the Polish had been found to be collaborating with the Swedes for support since the beginning of their participation in the war. While this information changed nothing, the English still found themselves unable to gain Naval superiority in the Northern Sea, which would be essential for supplying a Prussian Invasion.
On this end, the Genoans still were preparing a supportive Italian conquest in support of the Hungarians, which included an invasion of the Papal States.
The Second Act of the War was finally drawing to a close.
Sunday, September 16, 2018
The Dutch Question {Part of the War of Austrian Succession}
In the midst of the War of Austrian Succession, in 1743, the Dutch had to answer a very loud cry made by their people. At that point of time, time being February of 1743, the Dutch had a majority Orangist rule, following a take-over of the seats the previous year. This is normal for the Dutch and had been a part of annual life, the Orangists vs the Republicans.
At this point of time, the Dutch were leaning dangerously close to a breakout of war against the French-Bavarian coalition in the War of Austrian Succession. This being an especially popular opinion among the Unitists, people in the Orangist party who wished to unite with the English, as opposed to the Orthodox Orangists who were mostly against entry to the war. The Republicans, who believed in a non-prince head of state, themselves were divided between two groups, the Pacifists, and the Restorists. The Pacifists being those who wanted to keep the peace between all Europeans and the Dutch. The Restorists were those who wanted to take back Austrian-controlled Belgium in an effort to unite the Nederlands or Low Countries.
This led to a divide where Restorists and Unitists united against the Orange-Republicans, those for war, against those against war. The Restorists had longed to take back Flanders and Waloonia, which had been occupied by the French as an invasion of Austrian-controlled Belgium. While the Unitists didn't oppose this idea, they managed to convince the Restorists that to do so would mean an alliance at the least with the English.
This fierce divide led to the Maand Gratis Bloed, the name given to the month of March of 1743 where the Restorists and Unitists would perform acts of tarring, arson, and vandalism against known supporters of the Orange-Republicans. The Orangists in power responded by sending the head of the Restorists, Roelof Dirks, to the gallows. The cycle repeating for much of the month of March, up until the 5th of April. On the 5th of April, upon a carriage ride to Binnenhof*, William IV - Prince of Orange-Nassau was ambushed and killed by members of the Restorist-Unitist coalition.
The debate over whether or not the Dutch should enter the war quite ironically ended at the beginning of a Civil War.
The Restorist-Unitists made it clear that they were not going to let the Orange-Republicans stop a war against the French-Bavarians. Upon multiple minor battles and skirmishes, they were able to regain from the county of Friesland, all the way down to Utrecht. From there the lines broke, cavalry was ineffective and artillery would get stuck in the Dutch Wetlands of Holland/Utrecht. Small skirmishes would lead up to massive charges where no one would gain the advantage. The Restorist-Unitists managed to rack up a surprise landing of the northern Holland, which included taking The Hague, over the course of three months the Orange-Republicans were pushed down to Zeeland and Northern Flanders.
By August of 1743, the Restorist-Unitists had taken full political power, the Orange-Republicans still controlling Zeeland and Flanders**, although at this point standing no chance at controlling the Dutch people anymore, simply being a refuge for their previous supporters to flee into upon the start of the 'Augustus Bloedvergieten'***.
Although the Restorist-Unitists had Won the Dutch Civil War, the Orange-Republicans weren't gone, and would certainly re-establish themselves in one way or another!
Sunday, September 9, 2018
The War of Austrian Succession {Part 2}
{Map of War of Austrian Succession by June 1742}
By April of 1742, many had assumed the war to be over. While the HRE was still split in two, there was an overwhelming consensus over much of the non-involved states that the HRE was now headed by Emperor Charles VII. Although this assumption was founded on simply looking at the war from a two-sided perspective, while in reality, there had been a third side that was claiming the throne. That had been the side of King Augustus III of Poland, better known as the Husband of the claimant Empress Maria Amalia.
In the first act of the war, they had stayed mostly silent, while they had intended to re-take silesia from Empress Theresa, they were beaten to the punch by Emperor Charles' coalition. Maria Amalia's goal was simply to unite the Poland-Lithuanian union with the Electorate of Saxony and re-establish the HRE under a Polish rule. The plan of execution was simply a brutal show of force in Silesia, but since the Prussians had taken it first, they had a rash decision to make; give up their claim, or declare war on both the Empress and the Emperor. By Mid-Summer of 1742, there had been a clear triumphant out of the first act of the War.
On July of 1742, the Polish-Lithuanian/Saxony coalition of armies started building up their armies on the border of Silesia. The Prussians had accepted the perception of Poland-Lithuania not going to join the war. Naturally, this meant the Prussians were off-guard in the region.
The Silesian Offensive of Prussian Silesia was commenced on early August. The Saxons marched and met the polish armies with relative ease and little resistance. They set siege to the town of Breslau and proceeded to rout the Prussians in the Battle of Lubin, to which the Prussians were routed with relative ease due to their lack of an efficient Artillery force. Breslau fell on September 3rd, which following it led the Polish-Lithuanians on a campaign to cut off the Prussians on the Northern Oder.
While this had the effect of playing into the advantage of the Poland-Lithuanians, this sparked reactions throughout Europe. At this point, they believed that Poland-Lithuania was conspiring with the Hungarian-Empire (Former HRE), in an attempt to restore Maria Theresa as Empress. Maria Theresa assumed Maria Josepha had simply decided to retake Silesia, and used this as a ploy to use her newly-trained Hungarian conscripts and set a marching path for Graz. The English, assuming that Maria Josepha was on the Hungarian side, Declared War on France, Prussia, and the Holy Roman Empire. The Hanoverians and Dutch took the English side and declared war as well. The Wurttembergers seized this opportunity to seize the Swabian lands of Northern Tyrol and declared war on the Holy Roman Empire, which inspired their fellow Swabians, the Swiss, to form an alliance in an effort to retake Swiss lands from Habsburg hands. All of these followed in the same week, a week which would come to be remembered as the 'Week of Widows'.
The War of Austrian Succession had now become a Free-For-All for the livelihood of the continent of Europe.
Saturday, September 8, 2018
A Thousand Views
Thank You All!
It has not been easy posting regularly now, but it certainly has been fun! Thanks to you guys we are hitting our first big milestone at 1,000 Page-Views, almost all within the past two months! Please consider following the blog!
-Zachariah Bouanani-
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Sunday, September 2, 2018
The Kingdom of Wurttemberg {Part of the War of Austrian Succession}
{Map of War of Austrian Succession by January 1742}
In February 1742, the heir to the Duchy of Wurttemberg, Carl Eugen, vanished. The Wurttemberger people had previously not supported the takeover of the Bavarians, yet the regent of the throne refused to get militarily involved in supporting Empress Theresa. With no rightful heir in sight, there was a power vacuum inside of Wurttemberg. Yet, this power vacuum didn't last for very long. The Self-Proclaimed 'King of Wurttemberg' who had been ignored by authorities and the HRE for being a mad street-rambler, had started gaining support. The Wurttembergers had enough of being treated like ants under the HRE throne and being involved in the senseless drama that they weren't allowed to have a say in no matter how hard they tried.'King' Carl Frederick started trying to legitimize his claim, he would hold street rallies, gaining a good following of his doctrines when he is named king. Eventually, this landed him not on the throne, but in a cell. To Rot. Or so the Regent of the throne presumed. Little did he see that what followed was an armed siege of the jail by Carl's supporters.
The Regent, Charles Rudolph (who had just barely survived a bout of catarrh a year prior), sought to quell the rising tensions. He did this in a way he had been known for, making an example of one of the participators of this movement. A public execution was held for a supporter he had picked out of the street, the execution had consisted of hanging the supporter from a badly tied rope, so he would suffer instead of dying immediately. This, however, had the polar opposite effect of what the regent had hoped. King Carl Frederick used this to rally a greater percentage of people, citing Charles as a "Bloodthirsty, empire supporting, threat to our people".
{Die Volksflag}
The Wurttemberger Revolution starts on April 21st, 1742. King Frederick had little to no resistance in taking over, with the exception of a few skirmishes, and one siege. The Siege of Ludwigsburg Palace {May 2nd, 1742-June 5th,1742} or "The Duke's Palace". While some might presume this kind of siege would be relatively short, they would be wrong. The defenders, behind Regent Charles Joseph, fought valiantly, and with various pieces of artillery stationed inside the palace, it was almost as if King Frederick were besieging a land-ship. After multiple waves of men trying to break the defenses, he finally managed a week from the start of the siege. From there, harsh interior battling occurred, the Regent not willing to surrender, even used the artillery he had stationed inside the building, to prevent Frederick and his army from moving further. The siege took the lives of many due to rupturing of eardrums, the significant amount of smoke in the air, which caused many to pass out of Nitroglycerin poisoning, and short contained fires which would occasionally occur. The siege ended when the Regent passed due to a large uncontained fire which occurred on June 1st. Following this, as more defenders learned the news, they surrendered to the besieging army.
The Kingdom of Wurttemberg is born
The King of Wurttemberg declared complete independence from any Imperial claims. He called upon the Swabian people to join his nation - nay - movement. His ultimate goal to unite the Swabian people under one flag, and nothing and no-one was going to stop this from happening.
Sunday, August 26, 2018
The War of Austrian Succession {Part 1}
The HRE, previously one of the strongest nations, if not the strongest, in Europe at the time had been struggling with a wide variety of problems disuniting the previously fairly united states in the HRE*. Most impactful being the ban on any other family besides the Habsburgs inheriting the throne. This all culminated in 1741. The Emperor, Charles IV, passed away. Charles hadn't left any male heirs, but rather, left a female heir who was supported by HRE law, the Pragmatic Sanction. This, however, hadn't been supported by many, leaving what would become a power struggle, or rather a race-to-power.
While France publically supported the law, they had allied themselves secretly with the claimant ruling Bavaria. Prussia's King Frederick had plans to unite what he deemed to be his lands under one flag. Austria itself was divided between three potential heirs, Maria Theresa (the rightful inherent), Maria Josepha, and Maria Amalia. Self-Proclaimed King Carl Frederick of Wurttemberg-Oels saw Austrian rule as humiliating and set out to liberate his people, the Swadians, from the rule of the Eugen and Habsburg families. The British had set out to take whatever side the French were opposed to in order to counter the humiliation dealt in the American War of Independence. The Hanoverians simply aligning themselves with the British king, George II. The Swedes were set out to take any side if the Russians decided to take a side. The Dutch Republic was split in two, with the Orangists {Royalists}, who were in power, supporting the British, and the Republicans simply anti-Orangists. Genoa was set on supporting the secretly brewing Republican revolt in the Netherlands. While Sardinia was prepared to support Maria Theresa, in word, yet not prepared to in sword.
Everyone in Europe knew what was coming, and when it finally happened that Maria Theresa was crowned to the throne of Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, war broke. France declared war following Emperor Charles VII and his wife Maria Josepha declaring war on Austria. The British declared war on France following the French declaration of war. The Russians joined sides with Austria, who had previously supported them in the Russo-Ottoman War two years prior. The Swedes declared war on Russia, and Austria following.
The first offensive being the Prussian Campaign of Silesia in February 2nd, 1741, nearly a week after the breakout of the war, without a formal declaration by the Prussians. King Frederick was convinced that he had to move as quickly as possible, due to the concern over Maria Amalia's armies would invade Silesia to unite her Husband's Kingdoms of Saxony and Poland-Lithuania. In what could only be described as an Eighteenth Century Blitzkrieg. The Austrian armies had only numbered in around 6,000, and the Prussian force was able to capitulate all Austrians with their combined occupying forces consisting of nearly 40,000, 40% of their entire military. The last remaining Austrian foothold in Silesia was Breslau, which would continue to fight hard against Prussian sieges for nearly four months, until the Prussian forces decided to allow them to continue their occupation in hopes that the Austrian government would accept their proposal of Silesia in exchange for recognition of the Austrian government and Empress Maria Theresa.
Maria refused, and launched the Austrian offensive of Silesia, in hopes of scaring the Prussians, who had signed a treaty of cooperation with the French a month prior on June 18th, 1741. This offensive resulted in the Battle of Mollowitz** which ended in a Prussian victory, pushing the region out of formal Austrian influence for the coming years.
Meanwhile, on August 27th, 1741, the French marched their army across the Rhine, in hopes of meeting with the Bavarian army in order to march straight for Vienna. The combined forces met on the Danube and started to make their way towards Vienna, but upon capturing Linz, the plan was averted in favor of a two-prong march towards Prague. The French would advance through the Amberg-Pilsen path towards Prague, and the Bavarians would march through Budweis, via the newly captured region of Silesia by the Prussians. This became wildly successful, the French had split in two, with one army prepared to siege Vienna, and the other continuing with the Bavarian armies and capturing Prague (November 21st, 1741), which was not able to be reinforced in time, given the placement of the Austrian forces in the Hungarian/Italian/Polish regions. Charles VII now naming himself Emperor of the Holy Roman Emperor, sent for the coalition of French and Prussian troops to crush the remaining main Austrian army outside of Innsbruck. Charles moved to march on the city of Vienna.
The Combined French and Bavarian armies captured the city of Vienna after a brief siege (January 20th - 29th, 1742) and proceeded to imprison Francis Stephen, the Husband of Maria Theresa. They proclaimed the war was over and called upon the rest of the remaining Holy Roman armies to surrender themselves along with Maria Theresa.
But the true war had only just begun!
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Extra, Extra! Read all about it! {Crowning of Queen Alexandra}
[April 5th, 1756]
Following the aging of the Queen of the British family to 18, she was finally given a crowning ceremony.
The ceremony was large and tedious, in fact, the most planned ceremony since the Elizabeth I herself! The proceeds included a massive show of military force! Which in relative is puny, given the American might over the English army! Regardless, this show of force was to intimidate the 'Enemies of the British Empire' as one reporter stated, yet in actuality, it was just an attempt to quiet the newly independent Principality of Ire into giving up its God-given Sovereignty.
The first day of the ceremony concluding with an execution of the leader of the ongoing Scottish unrest! On the receiving was a massive applause for the Queen as she stood on the stand to personally fire one of the guns in the squad! While I despise the presence of our former 'Masters' across the big blue, I have got to say, this is quite the bold and commendable move!
Not all Women are able to show such a great amount of personal strength as what the new royal has shown!!!
Upon the second day arriving, loud cannon-fire had been blasted as early as Pre-Mid-Day! The Queen aired blanks throughout the streets, and kept them ringing throughout the second day until the Royal Commencement Banquet was hosted! The tables ran well into the marketplaces up to two blocks away from the palace! Almost everyone in the city got to eat at the mercy and discretion of Her Highness!
A rather detestable move, given how many providers they had stolen the food from!
On the last day, crowds were gathered on mid-day in front of the Palace of Westminster. The Queen held a rather educated and passionate speech, here's an excerpt grabbed by one of our own in the crowd:
"It is time for us to end the mistakes which are repeated by our ancestors! Invading lands, but not only invading, failing at invading! It is truly disgusting and bastardizing. We lost to, of all people, the Celts of Ire! No! I refuse! I'm going to personally end this nonsense! WE are going to personally end this nonsense! We need to RECLAIM our place in this world, and I will be in the forefront of this, whether the World appreciates it or not!"
Clearly, she seems passionate. But seeing as how two heads of the throne of those over the big blue lost to us, she wouldn't be able to force our great Union to succumb! Even if she personally landed here!
May God Continue to Bless the Union and prevent our fate from being the fate of the Tyrants over the sea!
Your weekly writer,
- Benjamin Franklin -
Saturday, August 18, 2018
The Fulani Wars of Expansion and the Following Civil War
{Map of North/West Africa Pre-Civil War}
{See Legend at bottom of Page}
{See Legend at bottom of Page}
In the years encompassing the range of 1730-1734 the Fulani Caliphate had a massive series of Wars of Expansion, and with their quickly growing arsenal of modern weaponry, they would have an easy shot at many of the tribes. In fact, the whole series of wars only cost them 2,000 of their own Fulanis, while numbering in the 10,000s for the many conglomerations of tribes taken over by the Fulanis. They had assumed this rapid expansion was going to last a good while, they were intimidating the tribes within by selling some as slaves as a scare tactic, while also providing a simple and straightforward living system, where they would simply pay the Caliphate 'protection salt', basically rare minerals and gold, and they would be allowed to continue doing whatever they pleased with limited interference.
The Caliph, Alfa Ibrahim, assumed the expansionism would only lead to good things, being someone who was studied in the successes of his northern neighbors. His expansion north had hit a halt as he could not cross ottoman territory, while his expansion west was just starting to fruition. Very slowly he had been amassing troops on the border of Grand Bassam, the only nation who he had required to call in a council in order to strategize against seeing as they had an open trade to much of the western world, with France wanting to keep them alive. In February 1735, just two months before the invasion was set to commence, an uprising among some of the Chad tribes had occurred, but Ibrahim decided onto leave one of the Caliphi {Trusted Advisor/Generals}, Abdellah Min-Al Boke, to deal with them. Which started to work out fine, until the uprising of Kanuri-Hausa, a combined group of some of the most oppressed people in the Caliphate. Tired with the frequency at which their people were being rounded up, they decided to rebel while there was a lack of Garrison. Quickly the situation escalated, Abdellah was ambushed at Muonduo on October 7th of the following year and swiftly dealt with, violently and brutally slaughtering everyone including Abdellah. Further instigating other tribes to succumb to the Kanuri-Hausa, and join the war against the Fulani.
Ibrahim had trust in his other two Caliphi, sending them to meet the majority of the Kanuri-Hausa around the river Chari, and to deal with them for good. For if one swift deadly blow was dealt against the Kanuri, all tribes following them would likely give up.
{Battle of Lake Tchad's final movements (the Triangular piece is artillery, with each Rectangular Piece being around 3,000 men) Red; Caliphi Razak, Purple; Caliphi Amed, Yellow; Kanuri Army}
While the Battle of Lake Tchad seemed it would be easy, everyone had misrepresented the true forthcoming size of the Battle. Caliphi Razak started the action by bombarding the encampment, with his three artillery pieces, something which was rare to be able to afford/craft in Africa in general, and it demonstrated it well. In the first week, there had been massive holes implanted into the palisade erected by the Kanuri, and they had decided to charge at this weakened defense. This resulted in the first massive engagement in the area, the artillery piece had misfired and struck Razak as he was leading the charge, crippling him and the morale of the first ranks. Never-the-less the charge continued, to which they managed to breach the wall, but was met by a fierce melee encounter, to which they hadn't been prepared for since many were equipped with simply Wheellock rifles and not much else.
Regardless, they fought fiercely, until they started receiving fire from their flanks, to which they were required to retreat back to the coast of Tchad. The Kanuri decided to hold until they allowed the Razaki army to take in the shock of the monumental encounter. Four days ahead of the charge of Razak, the Kanuri decided to advance at night with one of their armies in an effort to take out the artillery pieces which had been continuously bombarding them and securing a spot along the area so as to be able to catch the main armies off guard. They succeeded in dismantling the artillery, although much to their shock, they were met with the army of Caliphi Amed while shifting supplies, and another encounter ensued, they took fortification as well as they could and returned fire on the army of Amed, both were initially shocked to have encountered each other. The firefight lasted until morning, a long tense 9-hour encounter, only ending once the Razaki armies managed to come up onto the off-guard Kanuris and force them into a rout.
Following this, the armies gathered themselves, and two weeks later, they launched a charge on the Kanuris, exchanging gunfire every step of the way until they were finally within the palisades, and although they managed to put the Kanuris in an awkward position and therefore push them into a final retreat, given a minor flank of the northern-most army, they lost nearly all of their men, making this a very Pyrrhic victory. A whopping 9,000 men combined, while the Kanuris had only lost a sad-in-comparison 6,000 men.
While this was appearing turning point, in the first section of what would come to make up the full Fulani Civil War, there was massive unrest rising in the main trading centers, over their children being so carelessly thrown into battles.
The true civil war had only just begun
The trading centers started encountering mass armed resistance to occupation, people demanding the Fulani change what they are doing, or they'd separate. Forcing Abdellah to re-assign his border-garrison to where the unrest was growing, in order to allow the two remaining Caliphis to deal with the massive insurrection among tribes in the north-east. In response to this increased armed presence, some of the trading cities started attacking the garrisons. War had been declared, and the leader of this group of tradesmen arose to challenge the rule of the Caliph, stating him as weak, and careless, and not fit to rule such a wide, varying, and wealthy nation. The map had become blotting. Battles would occur back and forth, the Ottomans sending troops in, the Algerians sending support for some of the northern tribes. This civil war was now Africa's first proxy war and the Western nations didn't like it.
The Idowo-supporters, who held much of the trade, refused to trade in slaves, stating it was Anti-Islamic, and overall an insult to the people of the coast. This had caused the United States (against much of slavery, or well the term moreover, since much of their previous 'slave-labor' is now achieved by 'serfs') to send support and spare weaponry to the people supporting Kwasi Idowo, while the Western Europeans sent weaponry to the Caliph Abdellah.
This combination of different wars into one huge Civil-War caused a massive un-shifting stalemate in the country, not to be broken until the siege of Benin-City, which was the capital of Abdellah's regime, was decided upon the storming of the Caliph's palace in 1745.
This left the whole of the ivory coast in shambles. Much of the deeper Niger territory was reclaimed by tribes, while the ivory coast was devastated by the decade of warfare.
The Idowo traded the first and last nine slaves that they would ever trade
As a punishment for the disastrous expansion, and the suffering of the people of what would be called the Isowo Isokan (Trade Union). Trade head -Kwasi Idowo- sold the Caliph, his main council, and his two living Caliphis to slavery. The Fulani Civil War had ended. The only real Fulani left being forced to flee to the Mauritius region of the Sahara.
{{Post Civil War}}
Sunday, August 12, 2018
Extra, Extra! Read All About It! {The American Flag Referendum}
The Provincial Stripes "The Flag of the Bloody Stars" {Colorized}
This Morning {November 16th 1755} the Government has finalized the results of the Flag Referendum, with a majority of the Provincial districts counting a whopping win for the new flag over the old Revolutionary flag the 'Stars And Stripes'.
This was decided a year after the controversial Vote to redraw provincial lines along a new set of boundaries, decided by the People, and for the People of the United Provinces of America.
{Map of the Six Provinces Post-Anglo-American War}
The flag stands for the current Six Provinces--Comptonia*, Carolina, Erie**, Three Lakes, New England, and New Amsterdam***--under one American people. Hence, the Seven Stars. The Red stripes representing the blood of our brothers and fathers from all of our Provinces! The Navy stripe standing for the Democracy, our Democracy, the one and only! The White being our nation surrounded by innocence and our purity in the eyes of God!
Long live, and God Bless, the United Provinces of America!
*Georgia being renamed into Comptonia after the contributions of Spencer Compton
**Erie, formally known as the Province of Jersey, although it was taken down, following a wave of Anglo-Phobia that hit in 1748
***^Following the wave of Anglo-Phobia, they changed the name of New York to New Amsterdam
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