1556-1569 King Felipe I, Part 2
If you recall from Update 15, Castilian Brazil and
Portuguese Brazil had been having a small colonial war for a couple of years.
At the end of the update, the war spilled over to the colonial overlords, us
and Castile.
Before we get to that, however, in June 1556 Bourbon, a
small island next to Mauritius, became self-sufficient and we completed a
mission
The same month, the great Queen Elizabeth of England, later
Elizabeth of Great Britain, dies. The dissolution of our Royal Marriage sees
the end of our ties with the United Kingdom, and from now on they see us firmly
as a rival, not an ally.
In December 1557 we colonise Timor, an island in and around
Indonesia
But what’s happening in the war with Castile, I hear you
ask? Well, not much as it happens. The Castilian army never shows up in Iberia,
and our colonial subjects across the Atlantic successfully beat the crap out of
Castile’s colonies. We are simply content to siege province after province to
get the warscore up. In October 1558, we fight our first battle of the war,
annihilating the entire Castilian navy in one go
By February 1559, all of Castile’s colonies are occupied, as
are 60% of their Iberian provinces. With the warscore at over 80%, they have no
choice but to accept our punitive terms. Portuguese Brazil gets Minas Gerais,
uniting the northern and southern parts of the colonial nation. WE get Cordoba
and Jaen. Castile is forced to give up all four of its North African provinces
to Morocco and Algiers, and annuls its alliance with the Papal State.
For the first time in the game, we now control more
provinces in Iberia than any other nation. Next time we fight with Castile, and
I’m sure there will be a next time, we are going after Badajoz and Murcia!
Later the same year, our second South African province
becomes self-sustaining
And flush with joy at us for returning their core provinces,
Morocco becomes our ally.
In September 1559 we notice this.... GB has taken a province
in North America near the Labrador Coast...is this the start of the British
Empire?
If you recall the intermission update from 1555, our plans
in the Indian Ocean involved attacking Kilwa in East Africa for Zanzibar,
annexing Ceylon off the southern tip of the Indian sub-continent, and
establishing a presence in Indonesia. Well, Timor is colonising nicely, so
that’s part 3 taken care of. We try our luck at completing part 2 in 1560, by
attacking Ceylon.
They are only a One Province Minor (OPM) faction, with no
allies and no rifles for their infantry, so we send an army of 8,000 troops to
take the island, with predictable results
And in June 1561, less than 12 months after declaring war on
Ceylon, it is annexed. Part 2 of our Indian Ocean plan is complete. We begin
coring it immediately.
Later that month, and somewhat out of the blue, Granada asks
us for an alliance. Perhaps that suspect that we would attack them (which we
would have done eventually), but for now we accept their offer, enabling us to
focus our attentions elsewhere.
By September 1561, Castile’s expansion plans are revealed as
they colonise two provinces in the River Plate colonial region.
Near the end of the year, Kilwa does something silly, and
declares war on Yemen. Yemen is huge, and this war will be costly for Kilwa. Of
course, they have no idea that we are going to attack them once we can colonise
the province of Inhambane (on their southern border, roughly where the border
between Mozambique and South Africa is today) and fabricate a claim... poor,
unsuspecting fools...
In February 1563, we take military tech 13, giving us better
artillery, and later that year Inhambane becomes self-sustaining and we are
able to fabricate a claim on Kilwa.
Meanwhile, Mahe, another island in the Indian Ocean, becomes
self-sustaining. Apart from the Maldives and another small island I can’t
remember the name of, we have now colonised all of the small island chains in
the Indian Ocean
Ceylon cores, and now needs converting to Catholicism.
Fortunately, our missionaries are up to the task
Finally, in June 1565, all our positioning is complete, and
we declare war on Kilwa. Our plan is threefold.
First, we land an army of 10,000 men on Zanzibar, laying
siege to it. This army will then move to the mainland to siege the central
Kilwanese provinces.
Second, an army of 9,000 men will march north from
Inhambane, occupying the southern provinces.
Finally, the 8,000 strong army of Ceylon will transfer
across once Ceylon has converted and occupy the northern provinces.
Between the three armies, we will have 27,000 troops in the
region, more than enough to deal with whatever Kilwa can muster. Remember,
Kilwa is still fighting Yemen up in the Arabian peninsula. In the meantime, we discover Japan, and get some prestige
for it
By March 1566, Ceylon is converted and the Army of Ceylon is
in Africa.
Eventually, in May, the Kilwanese army appears, 25,000 of
them. They peaced-out of their war with Yemen and marched their army straight
into the guns of the Army of Ceylon, 8,000 strong. It’s time to see if European
guns and discipline will beat African numbers and spirit.
Unfortunately for the locals, pointed sticks and loud
shouting is really no match for a solid firing line, and the Kilwanese lost
almost 8,000 troops.
Roughly the same time, Timor becomes self-sustaining, and we
now have a solid presence in the Spice Islands
By August of 1566, Sofala and Zanzibar (our two primary
wargoals) have been occupied, and the Army of East Africa crosses from Zanzibar
to the mainland and engages a small enemy force, which is utterly demolished
And then, in September 1566, without any real warning, the
wrong cardinal dies and the right one takes his place, and we are suddenly the
Papal Controller. And just look at those nice modifiers!
So far, our northern and central African armies have engaged
the Kilwanese. In October it is time for the southern army to get in on the
action. Chasing a large force down, exploring as they went, we engage a force
more than twice our size in Zimbabwe
Finally destroying them in July 1567 after a series of
running engagements
We fight the sole naval battle of the war in December 1566,
winning it decisively, and allowing our fleet to disperse and blockade the
entire coastline. The warscore is now at 30% and climbing
Back over on the other side of Africa, our ally Morocco
attacks Algiers the same month. They don’t ask us to join in as they obviously
feel confident
February 1568, and the Timurids have managed to create the
Mughal Empire, which is worrying. We also continue to defeat small Kilwanese
armies as they appear, and the warscore is now at over 60%
By July 1568, the entire coastline is occupied by us, and
the warscore is over 80%
Kilwa has no choice but to accept our less than generous
terms. We take the provinces of Sofala and Zanzibar, cementing our presence in
the East African trade node. Kilwa has to annul its recently acquired alliance
with the Mughal Empire (phew!), and also has to release the northern nation of
Ajuuraan (the blue bit near the Gulf of Aden).
Why did we get them to release Ajuuraan? Well, they are a
Two Province Minor, and will be ripe for annexation soon,which will then give us
a presence in the Aden trade node... see there’s method in the madness!
December 1569, and coring of our new provinces is underway.
Meawhile, Chaco Austral and Uruguay become self-sustaining, and we are working
hard to box-in the Castilian provinces in Southern Argentina and Chile.
Castile, for their own part, have made this area their number 1 priority, and
currently have 3 colonies in progress and 2 completed provinces.
We take Admin tech 13 later the same month, and diplomatic
tech 10 soon after. We still lag behind in diplomatic tech levels, but that can
be partly blamed on the issue of needing to spend diplomatic power on all of
the recent one-sided peace treaties!
Our final act of the update, and indeed of 1569, is to pass
a Mining Act. Whilst this reduces our trade power, it boosts production and
national tax, offsetting the loss of trade income. We are still getting overall
positive modifiers to our trade from other sources, so I’m not bothered about
this.
The backdrop in the picture shows our expanding presence in the
far south of South America. We have a conquistador with a small army exploring
provinces, and are sending all the colonists we can muster to that region. Our
aim is to create a central band of green across Argentina, Uruguay and Chile,
limiting the expansion possibilities for Castile in the region. It will give us
the added bonus of a base in the Pacific.
Note also that Castilian Brazil is completely boxed in by
Portuguese Brazil.
Anyway, that takes us up to the start of 1570, and next time we'll focus more on affairs in Europe, as we become embroiled in something big!
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