History of Milan, 1492-1522
The beginning of 1492 saw a flurry of important diplomatic developments occur. First to occur was the declaration of peace between the Austrian Holy Roman Emperor and Milan, ending the war between the two powers .The fault lay with the Austrian court, who's uppity nobles had effectively shielded Emperor Ferdinand II from what was really happening. Once the Emperor became aware of the war it was promptly ended before either nation was wounded severely.
Which, as it turns out, was quite fortunate as the Emperor immediately declared war on France instead, intending to retake some of the Imperial provinces that France had so rashly annexed a few years previously. Milanese troops quickly pored over the border into French Occitania while Austrian forces marched north to siege french provinces in central Germany.
The French Army was caught off guard as 50 thousand Milanese troops crossed the border. Two Milanese armies swiftly assaulted and captured Provence, then moved into Languedoc where French forces were forming to stop the advance. The 1st Battle of Languedoc was a French victory as Milan was forced to retreat back into occupied Provence. A brief skirmish was fought between fresh Milanese troops as the French persued but ultimately retreated back into Languedoc and then northwest to Rouergue as a fresh Milanese army pressed forward. The window of opportunity given by the need of the local French Armies to recuperate allowed Milan to assault Montpellier, the capital city of Languedoc, and occupy it without further issue. The advance was eventually halted as additional French troops arrived and a counter-offensive was launched by the French in the North.
While the sweep down the coastline was in progress Milanese troops marched into Dauphine and Swizterland. The swiss proved completely unable to stop Milan's armies and their provinces were occupied one after another by Milanese forces. Dauphine was quickly occupied and an attempt was made to push further north into Lyonnais. The Battle of Lyonnais saw over 40,000 French troops defend against 32,000 Milanese attackers. Led by a superb general who used the defensive terrain to its fullest potential, the French dealt Milan a sound defeat, killing over 14,000 Milanese troops and sending the remainder retreating into Dauphine. A total rout was only narrowly avoided by the arrival of a relief army of 16,000 men led by Luchino Adelasio.
Using the heavily wooded terrain to his advantage Luchino Andelasio successfully held off the entirety of the persuing french army long enough for the battered men retreating from Lyonnais to escape into Italy, and despite being outnumbered by almost 20,000 men held the line until additional forces made a march up from the Riveria and joined the battle. The Battle of Dauphine was disaster for the French with over 20,000 men killed for only 6,000 Milanese. Despite the fact that the Austrian push on the French capital had failed (partly due to Austria herself being invaded by the Hansa) it was apparent to the French King that the war could not be won at this point and peace was made. France ceded the territories of what had been the Platinate and Salzburg (aka Trollface) to Austria in addition to releasing Switzerland as a vassal.
As the war ended King Franesco I turned his eye to more peaceful means of expanding Milanese influence. The duchy of Sicily, long a vassal under Milanese rule, was peacefully absorbed into the Kingdom of Milan. The attention of the Franesco I then turned abroad. Many tales had reached the court in Lombardia of ripe new lands in the far off Americas, or the even farther of countries of Asia. While Milan was indeed a European power she was not a global one and had no bases past the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea. Achieving a foothold in the Americas was judged to be impractical as it would inevitably cause friction with the several powers already present, and any resulting war was one Milan was ill-placed to win. So instead of the New World attention was turned to India.
However reaching India required the use of several naval bases to replenish the ships and men of the Invasion force on their way around Africa and across the Indian Ocean, bases Milan did not have. The solution was found in a clearly aggravated Spain. Relations between Portugal and Spain were terrible and the Spanish court was itching to get revenge on the Portugese for their defeat decades earlier. Milan came to Spain with a deal; Spain would allow Milan the use of her naval bases in Africa and in return Milan would support Spain in her next war with Portugal by blocking the Ottoman Empire from interfering.
The Spanish Court agreed to the terms, then promptly declared war on Portugal (Spain had been building her forces for some time in preparation before the Milanese offer). True to his word Franesco entered the war on the side of Spain and promptly sent a courier with his message to the Ottoman Emperor in Istanbul.
"
To the Heathen Muslim Dictator and Oppressor of the Greek People,
Any Ottoman ships seen in the vicinity of Sicily, or west of Sicily, will be sunk with extreme prejudice. Have a nice day.
Love,The Great And Majestic Francesco I Montoro, Godly Annoited King of the GLORIUS Kingdom of Milan
The message was apparently received as the Ottoman sailors cowered in their ports at the mere possibility of the mighty Milanese fleet. Without Ottoman support Portugal quickly folded.
With his portion of the deal fulfilled Francesco ordered Milanese troops to board the transports and sail for India, making a short pit stop in Arabia along the way. The Spanish King, in light of his defeat by the Vijayanagarians (unified India) in his previous attempt to invade India, suggested a combined invasion with Milanese and Spanish troops working in concert. This seemed like a good idea, so the Milanese Expeditionary Force (14 regiments of Landsketchten Infantry and 4 regiments of Culverin Artillery, Milan having sensibly disbanded her obsolete cavalry regiments as part of wider army reforms) was ordered to hold in Yemen while the Spanish moved their much larger (40,000 or so) invasion force into position. When the Spanish were finally prepared
nearly one year later they informed the Milanese troops to invade "for realzies this time, We double checked and there are now actual troops in the boats unlike last time".
The Milanese Expeditionary Force promptly sailed for the Indian shore with the intent of rapidly occupying the province of Goa and using it as a base to strike further into the, at that point, completely unknown India. Alas, after a brief but sharp naval battle off the Laquedive Islands where the combined Milanese/Spanish naval squadrons defeated the Vijayanagarian Navy, the army promptly marched ashore and found they were in Konkan, north of Goa. Also there was 20,000 angry Vijayanagarian troops to meet them.
The heathen army was quickly broken on Milanese steel and routed with thousands dead. Milanese combat loses were extremely light, but attrition was taking its toll. A quick assault to occupy the province left the Milanese troops exhausted but victorious, until another 20,000 angry Vijayanagarians showed up. With only 10,000 remaining troops who were already weary of battle the Milanese army closed ranks for a desperate defense while ships were sent to figure out where the hell the Spanish were. Slowly but surely Milanese regiments were grinded down and broken by onrushing natives until only two infantry regiments and the artillery remained facing almost 10,000 Vigayanagarians. Defeat seemed almost certain until the Milanese culverins opened up with a co-ordinated grapeshot volley and decimated the Vigayanagarian line of battle. With the center of their line wiped away by the hail of iron the remaining Vigayanagarians broke and ran for their lives.
With the arrival of Spanish relief, after the battle was concluded of course, a further weak Vigayangarian attack on the beachhead was defeated and the Milanese army marched inland. In a series of battles the remaining Vigayangarian forces were smashed, culminating in the Battle of Bangalore where a desperate defense made by the remains of the Vigayanagarian Army were defeated and subsequently routed by the Milanese army.
Peace was eventually declared with Goa being ceded to Milan and other less important provinces being ceded to Spain. Then 5 years later the entire war repeated itself with several more provinces being ceded to Milan. Most of south India is now under Milanese control.
Last edited by djstu; 11-05-2011 at 09:22 PM.