"All your province are belong to us!"
At the end of the last update, we spotted that France had
occupied some of Aragon’s provinces. It turns out that France and Castile (and
Castile’s vassals, Aragon and Naples) are on opposite sides of a major central
European War, and that France is winning! It is October 1514, and Castile is being invaded, with its
military in disarray. Is there a way to take advantage of this?
Castile has two vassals, Aragon and Naples, and together
they can boast a far greater army than me. My navy is stronger, but I am also
more dispersed protecting trade routes. However, I am allied with England, and
together we are a match for the Castilians. 1514 presents us with a golden
opportunity. With Castile’s armies annihilated in battle against the French,
they will have to drain a large percentage of their manpower raising new units,
reducing their ability to withstand a protracted fight against us. In addition,
we already have a Cassus Belli, as we have neighbouring colonial provinces.
In November 1514 we break our alliance and set them as a
Rival. Setting Castile as a Rival will reduce the diplomatic power cost of
demanding provinces from them in peace treaties.
By December 1514 we are ready to declare war. We have 10,000
troops in Portugal, with a further 9,000 on the way back from the Caribbean in
our transport ships. We also have 10,000 in West Africa, ready to siege the
West African Castilian provinces Arguin and Trarza.
We declare war using the Colonialism Cassus Belli, setting
Trarza as our main War Goal. Our aim is to try to win both the Castilian
holdings in West Africa and Andalucia in Iberia. Andalucia is a Center of
Trade, and gaining that for ourselves will enable us to dominate our home trade
node of Seville.
England (and their vassal, Scotland) joins us (phew) and we
set about our task. England and Scotland can bring 19,000 troops to the table
if they choose, and 36 ships, including 8 Carracks. Initially, however, it is
my 10,000 Portugal-based troops against Castile...
I make my opening moves, into Trarza and Andalucia
And, as luck would have it, I immediately gain enough
military power to take Military tech level 8, which will help!
On New Year’s Eve, 1514, one of our fleets catches 4
Castilian Barques off the African Coast, and destroys them all. First Blood to
us!
In February 1515, the opening shots are fired on land, as
our Andalucian siege force is attacked. Fortunately, the 9000 troops from the
Caribbean have arrived in the nick of time, and reinforce our battle lines
Resulting in a nice victory for us
Near the end of March, England land a force of around 10,000
in southern Castile. Bravo, Sir!
By August, we have fought a number of running battles, and later
that month, we successfully complete the occupation of Trarza, our main War
Goal
And the following month defeat the army of Naples, eventually
destroying them in Granada
A series of sieges then take place, and by the spring of
1516 we have occupied Cadiz, Andalucia and Arguin. The Castilians, meanwhile,
have occupied our northern province of Braganca.
With the sieges over we are able to reunite our Iberian
army, and take to the field against the Aragonese, winning the battle of
Caceres decisively
Fortuitously, our 10,000 men from West Africa return to
Iberia in May, enabling us to attack the Castilian forces laying siege to
Alentejo
The outcome is predictable!
In August 1516, the English forces capture Murcia, we have
detached a force to try to recapture our province of Braganca, and a small army
attacks the Aragonese in their capital
We suffer our first major defeat in this battle, although
the losses are not catastrophic
Having successfully occupied Caceres, we take the fight back
to the enemy in February 1517, defeating them heavily in the second battle of
Alentejo
In June 1517, the English take Almeria and we recapture
Braganca, but we lose Coimbra! We make them pay for their insolence by
defeating them outside the gates of Lisbon. It is a Pyrrhic victory, however,
and our manpower has dropped from a starting positions of 23,000 down to a mere
9,000. We will use all of that manpower to replace the losses accrued in this
battle alone!
We defeat yet another Aragonese army in August, although
this is a one-sided affair
And set about capturing Gibraltar and Granada with the
English. A combined English / Portuguese army, under English command, hammers a
similar sized enemy force in Granada in January 1518, showing the value of good
leadership
Taking this lesson onboard, I sack our previous general, and
hire a new one, Paulo de Correia, who immediately makes an impression
By October 1518, the back has been broken in this war, and
we have successfully captured Gibraltar, Granada and the capital, Toledo
Morocco and Tunisia renew old acquaintances the same month
And to round it all off we get an heir (albeit a crap one!)
It’s all pretty one-sided from there on in, and by August
1519 the map looks like this
By January 1520, England has annexed Scotland, and we have a
warscore of 73%. With our war exhaustion above 7 and our manpower down to a
paltry 231, it’s time to make a peace deal
The peace deal is suitably one-sided. We get Arguin and
Trarza, removing Castilian presence from West Africa. We also get Andalucia,
sorting out the balance of trade power in our home trade node. Castile will
cede the province of Oran to Algiers, and release the 3-province nation of
Granada. Finally, they will pay us 96 ducats for the privilege!
Castile is still the major power in Iberia, and they still
have Aragon and Naples as vassals, but the balance of trade is firmly in our
favour, and their dominance has been reduced.
West Africa now looks much better without that unsightly
yellow, and we’ll start coring our new provinces as soon as we have the monarch
power
And as thanks for releasing them as a sovereign nation,
Granada accepts our offer of an alliance and royal marriage
The Moroccan / Tunisian war isn’t going well for Tunisia,
with revolts as well as occupied provinces
Colonisation
August-October 1514 - Tortuga becomes self-sustaining,
doubling our holdings in the Caribbean, and the Cape province does the same,
allowing us colonisation access to the Indian Ocean
Our colonists will depart for Santo Amaro in modern-day
Brazil and Barahonas (Dominican Republic, next to Tortuga)
February 1518 – we have enough admin power to take tech level
10 (Theocracy), unlocking another Idea Group. We take Expansion... this will
give us an additional colonist and merchant, and general bonuses to our trade,
naval building and diplomacy
Our first Idea from the Expansion group is ‘Additional
Colonists’, and this gives us, shockingly, an extra colonist. We now have three
colonists to make use of! It also unlocks the next National Idea, reducing
build times, which is nice!
February 1518 – I had to do it.... having spent a year of my
life in the Falklands, I had to send our colonists there to grab it for
Portugal! We use the new one unlocked via the Expansion group
October 1518 – Santo Amaro becomes self-sustaining and we
send our colonists off to Argentina, to see what they can find in the Pampas (no pic)
December 1519 – Barahonas becomes self-sustaining and we
send our colonists to Les Cayes, completing our domination of modern-day Haiti
and the Dominican Republic
In January 1520, we enact several laws (the Societas Jesu,
the Indulgence act and the Conventicle Act), getting our conversion percentage
up enough to carry on the religious conversion of Gabu
And here’s a quick look at how much of the world has been
converted to Protestantism (blue)
The rest of 1520 plays out quietly, as the country looks to ease
its war exhaustion and allow its manpower to build.
A nation mourns
Suddenly, in September 1521, our great leader dies! We’ll
look back at his reign in another update, but suffice to say that he took over
at the tender age of about 15 in 1474, and has led us for 47 years, through
multiple wars and much expansion. With a young heir, we’ll be back in a regency
for another decade at least
Pausing, and taking a look around, Austria seems to have
picked up some territories in the low countries, and France and England look
very strong
That's all folks!
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