Difference between revisions of "Praetonia"
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== See also == | == See also == | ||
* [[Haven]] | * [[Haven]] | ||
| − | * [[ | + | * [[Hoplite II - Phalanx MBT|Phalanx MBT]] |
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
Revision as of 11:01, 4 June 2005
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| Flag of Praetonia | |
| Motto: Pro Rege et Patria. | |
| Map of Praetonia Map of Segmentum Praetonialis | |
| Region | Haven |
|---|---|
| Capital | Praeton |
| Official Language(s) | Latin and English (UK) |
| Leader | Imperator Sarius Publius [Head of State]; Prime Minister Lucius Agrippa [Head of Government] |
| Population | 2.4 billion + |
| Currency | Praefeli |
| NS Sunset XML | |
Contents
Introduction
The Democratic Imperium of Praetonia is a Liberal-Imperialist Constitutional Monarchy with Socialist economic leanings. Her capital, Praeton, is the centre of an Empire that streches from Manium to Roach-Busters, and commands one of the most powerful navies in the world. The Imperium is based on values of liberty and democracy, but this does not exclude the possibility of bringing other, less well governed peoples into the light of Praetonian civilisation. In fact, the doctrine of Liberal-Imperialism that is currently so popular strongly encourages it. The people of Praetonia are hardworking, well educated and politically active. They are heavily taxed, but water, food, housing, education, transport and healthcare is provided for free by the state, along with an excellent pension based on how long the person has been in work. The Imperium is a land of supposed contradictions brought together in politics to forge an outstanding nation and Empire which is currently only rising in power and influence.
History
In the following chapter the history of the Democratic Imperium will be revealed, and the reasons that things are as they are now shall be explained.
The Isolationist Period
Before Praetonia emerged onto the world scene she was an Isolationist nation with a population of over 3,000,000,000. She was ruled over by a series of Fuedal Monarchs who controlled the land via a series of regional governors. The Fuedal Kings, who became more and more isolated on the Praeton Peninsular, largely lost direct control over the provinces beyond the mountains and Praetonia fractured into a multitude of Princedoms and city states, with their rulers taking titles that still upheld the myth of unity. Praetonia faced invasion several times in her pre-emergance history, and each time the invaders were crushed by massive, unwieldy armies of peasant spearmen led by noblemen who could be euqitated to Knights.
Praetonia was largely non-progressive, and whilst there was no threat from overseas the individual Princedoms fought each other, with the main "Kingdom" on the Praeton Plateatu doing little other than issuing the occassional edict. This situation of a fragmented state eventually led to its own downfall. Traders from abroad eached the Praetonian continent, and unrestricted by the central government stance of death to foreigners, some of the smaller Princedoms allowed trading posts to be set up. From these trading posts ideas were spread of revolution and political change aboard, notably in Britain (English Civil War) and France (French Revolution).
The Fuedal serfs that made up the majority of the Praetonian population became increasingly disgruntled with their lives which had no social safety net, and revolved largely around farming to make enough food to eat after the Fuedal landlords take most to sell other Princedoms. Several of the Feudal Princes realised that if the people were stirred to anger, there would be little the central government in Praeton could do to stop. They, therefore, led a rebellion of peasants which swept through most of the outlying Praetonian provinces, burning crops, picking up supporters and causing the Feudal Princes to flee inwards through the mountains to the Praeton Peninsula.
Within years, the Praetonian "Revolutionary Army" had managed to destroy almost all of Praetonia's agricultural capability and force millions of displaced citizens to flee to the Praeton Plateau, where agriculture was still managing very well and was infact benefitting from the increase workforce. It was the original intention of the Fuedal Revolutionaries leading the peasants merely to take over the outer portions of Praetonia and there slowly introduce a "tyranny by majority" disguised as a working democracy / republic. The demand from the proletariat first to take the whole of Praetonia and complete their victory for liberty and secondly to secure working agricultural land before thier supplies ran out forced the Fuedal Princes to change their stance. The exact date is uncertain, but in the Winter months of a year around 1652 the Army of the People began the long march through the only pass through the Praesummitas Mountain range.
The Battle of Praesummitas Pass
The Feudal Royalist Army was also assembled, and knew of their plans through various sources, including several spies placed quite high up in the Revolutionary chain of command. At the summit of the Lupina Valley, half way through the mountain pass, snow fell upon the two armies. Facing each other across the wide valley, the two armies stayed in place through the entirety of the first day.
During the night, the Revolutionary Army decided to make its first move. Eight Companies of Musketeers advanced through the darkened valley, but one of the loaded muskets went off and the flash and bang of the powder was detected by the opposing side. A detatchment of cavalry was despatched to cut down the Revolutionaries, and a small skirmish took place between several cavalrymen and a single Company of musketeers. The action was indecisive, and both sides beat a hasty retreat in the confusion, taking only light casualties.
On the second day the two armies assembled again, and faced off across the valley once more. The Feudal King, who had left strict instructions to have the army maintain position unless the Revolutionaries themselves attempted to cross the valley, was taken ill during the night, and his Son Prince Kimari of Rustica took command. According to contemporary sources, he sat atop his horse and stared, motionless, out across the valley for several hours. Then, for reasons that have not since been adequately explained, he suddenly ordered the entire army forwards.
The Royalists advanced in good order with spears and pikes to the fore and the King's Own pikemen on the flanks and in the centre. A thin line of heavy lancers advanced to the fore of the rest of the army, designed to hit the enemy lines with a single devastating charge to break the enemy formation and then simply to trust in their armour to keep them relatively safe for the rest of the battle. Any man of the line who survived the battle would receive a massive monetary reward, promotion and honours. On the flanks, lighter cavalry again with lances but also with vicious curved sabres prepared to run around the flanks once holes were created and cut down enemy troops from behind. Filling the gaps in the line between the elite troops stood line upon line of peasant spearmen equipped with only a spear, helmet and small shield.
The Revolutionary Army immediately had the musketeers set to the fore, a line 3 men deep and strecthing from one side of the valley to the other. Behind, a large mass of pikemen stood at ease to allow the musketeers space to run back through. As the Royalist Line approached, the Revolutionary musketeers gave fire. The line of knights was largely killed and the first two lines of the spear sections also took heavy casualties. The Royalist Army as a whole, caught by suprise by the new technology and utterly unprepared for such devastating fire at range, wavered, and the Prince of Rustica himself rode out in front of the line to steady his men.
The line quickly reformed and advanced in the face of further volleys. The Revolutionary musketeers, however, having made their devastating volley reverted to standard "fire at will" tactics generally employed by Praetonian missile troops of the age. Although taking a heavy toll on the enemy, the peasant casualties were nothing of major concern and the scattered fire was not effective at destroying cohesion and morale as volley fire had been.
According to contemporary sources, the time was about 5pm when the two lines of pikes met. The musketeers had withdrawn through the ranks of pikemen and made ready to fire into the advancing royalist army should the Revolutionary pikemen break. In the very center and on the flanks, where the Revolutionaries met the elite royalist troops, the battle went badly for the Revolutionaries. Between the clumped strong points, however, the peasant spearmen which faced the Revolutionaries were held back and then worn down by the overall better trained and equipped Revolutionary pikemen, who carried longer weapons capable of striking from beyond the range of the Royalist peasantry.
On the extreme flanks, the Royalists had not placed any troops at all to allow their light cavalry, which so far had not been harmed throughout the battle, to charge the enemy flanks. The Revolutionaries seized their oppurtunity to beat the elite pikemen on the flanks and lapped around the sides of the Royalist line, causing heavy casualties. The Royalist cavalry also seized their chance, charging the flanks of the Revolutionary pikemen in turn and causing horrendous casualties. The Revolutionary pikemen broke, were cut down and in the style of the time, the Royalist cavalry decided it had done its bit and proceeded to move to the rear of the Revolutionary line and pillage the baggage train. The Royalists, however, clearly underestimated the quality of the Revolutionary musket line, which in the Royalist army was made up of peasants and irregular troops. The Royalist line attempted to put the Revolutionaries to flight with a feigned cavalry charge, but were met with a disciplined musket volley at close range which annihilated most of the cavalry and broke what was left.
In face of a battle which was fast becoming a simple war of attrition between the opposing pike forces the Revolutionary reserve cavalry, which had never up to this point engaged in combat in either this or any of the numerous smaller battles of the civil war, was thrown into the battle in a desperate attempt to force a resolution. Exploting the rapidly closing gaps at the extreme flanks, the light cavalry took the heaviest casualties proportional to their unit size of any other unit in the battle. The Royalist line, however, was rolled up over the next 2 hours and the battle slowly degenerated into several isolated fights between Company sized units, mostly involving completely surrounded and horribly outnumbered.
By 11pm the Royalist army had been slaughtered, along with its leader, Prince Kimari. The King and his bodyguard, observing the battle from the opposite ridge, slipped away at around 9pm. The King was to become increasingly paranoid, spurred on by ordinary illness, and many of the impressive defensive works he built around Praeton still exist today. The Battle of Praesummitas Pass was, however, clearly the beginning of the end for the Fuedal Dynasty.
The Fall of Praeton
Within the next 8 months, the farmland surrounding Praeton was stripped bare by the rampaging revolutionary army. The peasant farmers were withdrawn within the mighty walls of Praeton itself, and the Monarchist troops prepared for a lengthy seige. In the event, the revolutionary army did not seige Praeton for any great length of time.
The revolutionary armour moved up in early July, and spent the next three weeks setting a vast array of heavy guns in seige trenches. The
