Concert of Europe: Gameplay Thread

[Dereich]

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x George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and so forth

xAdolf Fredrick, King of Sweden

X Joseph II Hapsburg

[YPestis25]

Treaty of Madrid
-The Kingdom of Spain and the Russian Empire, Kingdom of Sweden and Archduchy of Austria hereby agree to a status quo antebellum.
-The Spanish forces in Norway will be allowed to leave Norway without interference or harm.

xAdolf Fredrick, King of Sweden
(Pending approval from the National Assembly)

[Wikipedia delenda est]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

x George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and so forth

xAdolf Fredrick, King of Sweden

X Joseph II Hapsburg

xCatherine, Empress of Russia

[Wikipedia delenda est]

Treaty of Madrid
-The Kingdom of Spain and the Russian Empire, Kingdom of Sweden and Archduchy of Austria hereby agree to a status quo antebellum.
-The Spanish forces in Norway will be allowed to leave Norway without interference or harm.

xAdolf Fredrick, King of Sweden
(Pending approval from the National Assembly)

xCatherine, Empress of Russia

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

Treaty of Madrid
-The Kingdom of Spain and the Russian Empire, Kingdom of Sweden and Archduchy of Austria hereby agree to a status quo antebellum.
-The Spanish forces in Norway will be allowed to leave Norway without interference or harm.

xAdolf Fredrick, King of Sweden
(Pending approval from the National Assembly)

xCatherine, Empress of Russia

XCharles III, King of Spain

[GoTfan]

1) We jave secured the presence of our monarch in Naples and have entry as an equal power into the Catholic League. However, we are not obligated to enter wars that we have no interest in.

2) The current government officials in place are required to train native Neapoltian officials to replace them. The retiring officials will receive a pension paid by the state in accordance with the position to they hold currently.

[Spamage]

The Tumultous 1750's and '60s

Summary of the First War of the Grand Coalitions (1756-1759)
The Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 had far-reaching consequences. Britain and France, sworn enemies, swapped allies as war returned to Europe. This new conflict would have wide-ranging effects, bringing some Empires to their knees while others rose in their place.

The First War of the Grand Coalitions (1756-1759) was fought in many theaters. In the Americas, the French lost most of their colonial holdings. After months stalemates, the British and Portuguese were able to take Guyana, Saint Domingue, and Louisiana from French control. These territories were crucial gains, weakening the Louis XV's sway in the New World and cementing a Spanish-British oligopoly on power in North America. Though Portugal made peace early, content with its gains, French agents were unable to counter the British.

Britain itself would see fighting in this period. Stirred up by French agents, Ireland rose in revolt, hoping to restore the Jacobite claim to the throne. While gains were initially substantial, George II's patient policy of slow and deliberate recapture blunted the rebellion. The Young Pretender was slain while his father lingered on in exile, never seeing his crown won.

In Western Europe though, the French would have much more success. The Dutch, initially rallying to the Anglo-Prussian alliance early in the war, were abandoned following the victory at Brussels. French soldiers stormed into the United Provinces and caused the region to descend into chaos. Dykes were broken and untold economic damage was comitted.

That would not be the main theater of continental actions though. Prussia and Austria, the two powers arguably with the most at stake, slugged it out in Central Europe. Frederick II was able to take Saxony with ease, following up on his success with the seizure of Bavaria. Quickly, it became clear the Prussians had the upper hand. Not only did Bavaria and Saxony fall though, but soon Bohemia as well. Before an adequate response could be prepared, Vienna itself was captured. Maria Theresa was killed and her son Joseph became the Archduke-in-exile while his father governed in his name. Francis did not surrender though, attempting to hold on, managing to keep the Ottomans at bay while the Prussian gains turned into a stalemate.

The most important part of the First War of the Grand Coalitions was actually only tangentially related to the larger conflict. King Augustus III, the elected ruler of Poland, decided to restore absolutism in the realm. While allied with the Austrians, French, and Russians in the larger war, he faced civil war at home. The Sejm, jealously guarding their rights, fought against the King's efforts to install absolutism. Though they were crushed in the immeadiate months following the war, weakening the power of the nobility in Poland, the Pope's denunciation of the Anglo-Prussian-Ottoman alliance rallied the common people against the King, who had decided to switch sides in the War of the Grand Coalitions. So began the Polish Revolution, a conflict that would have long-lasting implications for the future of Europe. Augustus III was overthrown, put on trial, and executed.  A member of the nobility was elected King Alexander II amid constitutional reform and the rise of republicanism.

Russia was another major theater in the First War of the Grand Coalitions. Prussia helped the young Ivan VI, the deposed infant Tsar, by supporting a rebellion in his name. With the murder of Empress Elizabeth, this chaos was only further aided by the return of her nephew Peter III from Siberia, proclaiming his wife had no right to rule in the name of their infant son. Due to the extensive domestic chaos, Russia was unable to play a major role in the fighting in Central Europe, likely partially to blame for the poor Austrian performance. This civil war was actually also accompanied by Ottoman invasions, resulting in the brutal capture and looting of Kiev for the first time in recent history.

The last major theater of the First War of the Grand Coalitions was India. British and French colonizers raged a brutal war alongside their Mughal and Maratha allies, respectively. Fighting between the Europeans was largely inconclusive, but the Maratha Confederracy helped topple the old Mughal monarchy. The region collapsed into anarchy as it  became increasingly clear British India was under major threat.

Ultimately, after 3 years of war, it became clear that the British and Prussians held the upper hand. The French were the first to exit the war, leaving the Austrians to fend for themselves. Months later, Francis negotiated peace with Prussia. The Holy Roman Empire was irreporably weakened, Prussia seized much of Saxony and the Sudetenland, and the Ottomans created a satillite Duchy of Zagreb. Austria in dire straits, many expected peace to last on the continent...

[Spamage]

The Rise of Republicanism (1757-1762)
One consequence of events in Poland was an upswing in the ideas of Republicanism and Constitutionalism across Europe on a scale never before seen. Not only did the collapse of the Augustine Party in the Father's War create a Polish constitutional monarchy, it delegitimized the government of that realm. Alexander II, unable to govern effectively, was essentially pushed out of his Kingdom by a growing wave of republicanism. This, of course, led to the foundation of the Free Republic of Poland, but also had effects outside that realm.

The Dutch government had been greatly destabilized by the defeat in the First War of the Grand Coalitions. This, coupled with the death of the popular Anne of Hanover and events in Poland, left the realm open to discontent. Jacob Gilles, a Republican in the Staats General, joined a vast conspiracy in ousting William V and his grandmother-regent, Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel. The Prince of Orange fled while attempts were made to establish a true Dutch Republic.

The third government that became more Republican was Venice. Though that city-state had branded itself as a Republic for centuries, only under the leadership of Francesco Loredan did it truly begin to live up to its creed. This Doge enacted a series of wide-ranging reforms. His title was to be put up for election, voting rights were expanded, and elections were to be held more frequently. Unlike the other two Republics though, Venice attempted to have peaceful relations with its more conservative neighbors.

While other realms would not become Republics, there was also an upswing in constitutionalism in this period, enacted by monarchs wary of events in Poland. In France, the cornerstone of absolutism in Europe, Louis XV made widespread concessions to the convened Estates General, promising to call them annually. In Sardinia-Piedmont too, the King enacted a constitution and attempted to govern, with limited success, alongside an elected body. These realms would also be followed by the Swedes, who within several years were granted their own constitution in an attempt to weaken the power of the Riksdag party in a civil war. Other absolutist states also made concessions. Prussia abolished serfdom, Austria reformed the system of government, and the Ottoman Empire made vague promises of tax reform to appease their Orthodox subjects.

Just because reforms were being enacted though, does not mean that the old monarchies approved of events in Poland and the Netherlands. Prussia and Great Britain took the lead, just months after the end of the First War of the Grand Coalitions, in attacking the Netherlands. This, in turn, caused the Poles to back their fellow Republicans. A new era of war in Europe had begun and, though just months away from the previous war, it had far different implications.

Needless to say, the Dutch Republicans imploded when no aid came from France. Prussian soldiers overwhelmed the small army, causing that realm to be taken for the second time in a decade. Prussian soldiers expanded their goals however, and even moved against the far-off Cape Colony, seizing it and naming the land New Prussia. William V was restored, being crowned King of the Netherlands in short order.

Poland, though, was eager to fight on. War with Prussia continued, inconclusively, when suddenly Wallachia arose in rebellion, inspired by Polish agents. Fighting continued until, sensing and opportunity and upset over Prussian involvement in Russia, the Second War of the Grand Coalitions began (1761-1767). Austria, Poland, Russia, and Sweden started out at war against Prussia, Britain, and the Ottomans. This would soon change though. The French, sending men into Prussia to fight the Poles (who were seen as a major threat) accidentally clashed with their former Austrian allies. Thus, France and Austria ended their former alliance and entered fighting against one another. This would grandually alienate the British from their close relationship with Prussia.

---- (where the game ended)
Ultimately, half the continent was embroiled in some sort of civil war at the same time as an expansive intercontinental conflict. An attempt to establish Frederick II's brother as King of Finland, initially sucessful, ultimately failed. He fled the realm in 1764, following the capture of Helsinki by a Swedish Army. King Adolf Frederick declared the new Kingdom of Scandinavia, bringing Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and Finland under Swedish hegemony. In Russia meanwhile, Catherine, now Empress, triumphed against the Kazakh raids. While early in the war they were damaging to the ruined Siberia, Russian weaponry and numbers eventually defeated the Khanates, absorbing them into the larger Empire.

Britain exited the war in early 1763, signing peace with Austria. The French and Prussians were formidable though, and so fighting continued. Central Europe was greatly damaged, with fighting in Silesia occuring off and on. The Poles though, having seized East Prussia and threatening Berlin itself were the larger threat. The Republic was highly unstable, growing increasingly more radical as victory was not achieved. This radicalism manifested itself primarily in attacks on the Catholic Church, which in turn provoked a counter-Revolution in Krakow. Conservatives, upset with the radicalism and paid by Prussian agents, overthrew the radical National Assembly, establishing a third revolutionary government, the Polish Legislature. This would be a more moderate, though still republican, form of government led by the right.

Austria, Sweden, Russia, and Poland signed peace with the Prussians, French, and Ottomans at long last in 1767. The Sudetenland and Zagreb were returned to Habsburg control, Poland gained a strip of land connecting Gdansk to the rest of the realm, Russia annexed Kazakhstan and was named protector of Georgia, while Sweden was allowed to keep Norway, Greenland, and Iceland (becoming Scandinavia). The Prussians meanwhile, absorbed the remainder of Denmark into the German League, and the French were recognized as the sole power in India. Finally, with fighting continuing intermittently from 1756 to 1767 Europe was at peace.

Changes and Trends (1756-1770)
The events of this period undoubtedly had global implications. The French gained dominance over India, the British and Dutch established settler colonies at New Holland and Australia, the Prussians began a long period of colonial rule in New Prussia, and the Spanish-British dominance in the Americas set the stage for a new series of questions in the following decade. No one power emerged triumphant though, the various great powers enjoying a balance of power. Even so, going into the 1770s, it was clear that Europe would have new challenges to face. Nationalism and popular awareness had increased to higher levels as economic transformations began to take hold in England, France, and Westphalia. A new era was dawning in Europe.

Europe in 1770

World in 1770