2 Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - 1460 to 147:

The Parliamentary deliberation on the Brittany Question ends on March 1st, 1460. It is a closely contested argument split nearly directly down the middle. In the end, the Kingdom of Brittany, led by King BPM III, remains a part of the Empire but is given more autonomy.

Now what must be decided is whether to continue the invasion of Normandy. The conquered territories could either be added to the Empire directly or given to Brittany to administrate.

In August of 1463, the Royal Army and the Army of Brittany, both still in eastern Brittany, are told to prepare for invasion. Britain's allied nations are sent word to prepare for war, but Poland stubbornly refuses to join. It is well into 1464 when Poland finally relents and agrees to join the future war, and in June the war for Normandy begins.

Idhrendur Norfolk Saunders passed away in 1462, and his replacement was Chopak Somerset, an ambitious yet novice leader. He leads the Royal Army across the French border into Anjou as Scipion Barca Saunders leads the Army of Brittany in Normandy itself. The Army of England is loaded onto the fleet and makes way for Normandy as well. However, the appearance of the French army interrupts the offensive.

Led by the brilliant strategist Strasz Heilwiva, the French army moves into Armor, blocking Scipion in Normandy. In July, the French begin their march into Normandy to engage Scipion, the fleet and the English Army still weeks away. The Royal Army pulls out of Anjou in anticipation for the battle in Normandy, and for good reason, for the French and the British collide in August. In the beginnings of the battle, Scipion manages to hold on long enough against the enemy twice his number, and Chopak arrives just in time to reinforce the beleaguered men.

The battle turns in Britain's favor as the fresh troops engage the enemy from their rear. In September, as the battle still rages on and off, the English Army arrives with an additional 10 thousand troops, and the French are routed completely.

As the french run, Scipion and the English Army are ordered to pursue them to Paris, where they escape into eastern France. The Royal Army meanwhile continues the siege of Normandy.

The rest of the allied nations do fairly well. The French army, after its defeat in Normandy, goes instead to northern Lotharingia, a region of little value in the war, and takes several provinces there; Aquitaine struggles with southern invaders from Byzantium and Provence; Denmark sent 9 thousand strong men who are currently besieging Paris; and Poland sent 20 thousand men to Lotharingia to beat back a Swiss and Veronian march into Burgundy.

The siege of Normandy ends in July of 1465, at the same time that Anjou falls to a combined Breton and British army. The English Army, which helped Chopak and his men take Normandy, moves to join Scipion to ward off the French army, which returned to France some weeks ago.

The tide of the war turns sour in October as a 60 thousand man enemy army of French, Byzantine, Papal, and Swiss troops decimate the Polish and Lotharingian armies in Burgundy.

The Scottish army is sailed to join Royal Army under Chopak as word comes of the massive enemy armies to the east, and the Armies of England and Brittany combine under Scipion. They two armies, now about 20 thousand troops each, marches east. Knowing that the enemy will have to retake Normandy for Britain to lose the war, Saxon orders the troops to stay on the defensive at all costs.

Fortunately, Rus declares war on the Byzantine Empire in March of 1466, calling in his allies, which include Hungary. The distraction to the east is enough for the Emperor (Basileus Photios Piast) to withdraw most of his troops from Lotharingia. Now, two enemy armies of 16 thousand and 10 thousand remain. Saxon orders the armies to go on the offensive.

As the remaining Byzantines march north, the two British armies pursue them. It is a long chase, ending finally in Upper Bavaria as the Byzantines are finally overtaken. It is a fierce battle as Provence joins the Byzantines and Lotharingia joins the Brits, but Britain comes out victorious, but very bloody.

The armies return to France to recover and to continue the steady occupation. However, they are engaged along the way by the elusive French army, which had not been spotted for the last 6 months. It is a short battle that ends in defeat, and the Brits route back Paris in a panic, their losses great in number.

The French attack the armies once more, this time in Paris, in Mrch of 1467. They do short work and the battle is lost. The armies retreat south into Aquitaine.

In May, Saxon manages to coax the Byzantine Empire into a white peace. Now, France's most powerful ally is out of the way.

The armies are in good condition in November, and, as the French army engages 14 thousand Aquitainian troops in Nevers, they come to their ally's aid. This time, the French are utterly defeated. It is then that the French surrender. Normandy and Caux are ceded to the Empire, Maine, a Breton claim, is given to Brittany, and a small sum of gold rewarded to the victors as compensation for their losses.

Despite the strong opposition against European expansion that was once seen in the Empire, Britain's Empire now encompasses all of the northern coast of France. France is now a landlocked nation.

The armies return to their posts. The Army of Brittany is renamed the Army of Normandy, and the Army of England is recreated. The Royal Army is stationed in Caux, and it is split in two to reform the Army of Scotland.

In 1474, the Empire has recovered both militarily and economically from the war, and the Parliament convenes to decide on the future policies and laws of the Empire. Several parties put forth interesting ideas.

Vote (please comment either A, B, or C):

The Burghers cite the increasing news from the south of Galician and Andalusian exploration along the African coast, and of their wealth-producing trade posts. They desire the Empire to focus its future policies towards exploration of the African coast.
(A) Exploration Ideas

The militarist expansionists put forth their proposition of a focus on advancing British technology to overtake its rivals. The reason, they say, the French were able to do so well in the war, despite a minority of numbers, was their superior military technologies of early firearms (known as an Arquebus).
(B) Innovative Ideas

Lastly, the Nobility state that the aristocracy needs policies that support them, for they are the backbone of the nation. Giving more rights to the nobles would purportedly improve the military and diplomatic stance of the Empire.
(C) Aristocratic Ideas



NOTE:
-Sorry, result messages were off for the first battle. I was doing some testing earlier for a mod and forgot to re-enable them.