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 Flanderian Invasion was presumed to be an easy task, especially by the Dutch, who had recently kicked the inhabitants out of power within their government. This however turned into a disaster, upon the Hanoverian arrival in Southern Flanders/Northern Wallonia, they had found that the locals had kicked out the Belgians in support of the Flanderian government to be in rule. The Flanderians routed the Hanoverians after constant Guerilla Skirmishes against the invading army. The Dutch on the other side commenced a blockade on Zeeland with the help of the British and proceeded to invade Flanders. This backfired completely, the Flanderians had managed to bring up a formidable line of simple Mortars and fortifications upon the Waal river and harassed the Dutch before meeting with them on the battlefield in the Second Siege of Zaltbommel**. The Siege of Zaltbommel was a Decisive Victory for the Flanderians, and set them as a force that would not be taken from their newly-made home.

{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.