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May 1798

Before the spring of '98 it had become clear that something radical had to be tried. The Austrian Army was just too wel trained for the O.E to take on. Battles were lost too easily. I knew Emperor Matto would come for me when the rain stopped. His forces were better-and now Austrias moral was higher.

If I stood on the defense-even in the mountains-he would defeat my forces. If I withdrew deep into the Ottoman Empire-he would just follow. The idea of surrendering was considered multiple times-and discussed with Terje, Emperor of France. The possible solution to this situation was penned several months prior to its implementation. I could not set a precise start date as Austria needed to move to the East bank of the Danube before I could put the plan into operation.. Matto did not waste any time-in May, he marched.

The plan was to seize the imitative by marching on Vienna itself. There was even a small possibility to capture the capital, although that was not counted on. I simply wanted to have Austria waste time recapturing its territory in the east-and then having to race back to its capital.

Two things made this plan possible; it would clearly come as a surprise-and that I chose the rapid march doctrine. This gave me flexibility in advancing and withdrawing at he last minute-and getting away. Supply was going to be an issue as I had not mastered sea supply yet-and money was short anyway. Sea deports would have had to be set up from Athens to Illyria. The losses from attrition and lack of supply would have to factored in.

June 1798
Vienna

The plan worked to an acceptable degree. The Austrian capital province was occupied for two turns. This was enough to drop Austria's moral by hundreds of points. I did launch one major attack on the City itself, but that failed.
There was not much time to conduct a long siege-the Austrians were heading to their capital in mass.

After the plan "worked" there was the issue of getting back out of Austria. This was the greatest gamble of the entire scheme. The forces committed to this operation were not a trivial group-it was over 140,000 troops. I had to count on Emperor Matto not believing that I would choose to speed march without supply-to a place that had no supply. Going on that assumption, I thought that he would attempt to cut off my route of withdrawal back to my bases straight south. Fortunately, the Austrian Emperor is a rational man-thus one army and a corp farther south escaped-straight through to the east-back across to the east bank of the Danube.

Although I can count this operation as a great success, it was not cheap. There were tens of thousands of casualties-enough to affect national moral. However, another campaign season had come and gone. The Ottoman Empire still had not suffered from invasion and Austrian territory was still in Ottoman control.

Turkey would survive yet another year. Again, I had no intention of fighting Austria alone, but with the exception of the early (and very short) advance by France, and one incursion by Russia (which was defeated by Austria)-that is what had transpired.

This was a one time gambit-not to be attempted again. Hopefully, as the O.E.'s economy improves, so will its ability to stand up to Austria.

National Comparisons
July 1798

Turkey is in 5the place standing at this time.

From this report I could watch Austria manpower and money decline. I could also keep track of its military doctrines and moral.

Slowly but surely, Austrias manpower was falling. Many of its prime unit building provinces were devoid of any manpower. There was light at the end of the tunnel, but it was a long, long tunnel.

I'll get this AAR caught up soon. After it is current, I'll add some more details. The war with Austria was one heck of an affair.

July 1798

The Great Escape

This map shows the positions of the various armies after the Turkish dash for the Danube. All forces were on speed march orders and to avoid battle. Any major battle with Austria at this time would have been very bad-perhaps decisive.

July 1798
Economic Report

Even with all the defeats and feudal changes over the last year, things have improved quite a bit for Turkey. Comparing this report to the June '97 report you will see some major improvements. National moral has drastically increased, which boosts production and military moral. I have been able to increase taxes also. The money supply was bad-actually borrowing to the maximum limit just to get by.

Things are looking up.

July 1798
Glory Report

The Ottoman Empire has also improved its glory standing over the last year. There is a long ways to go to catch the leading nations though.

July 1798
Diplomacy

This is the current tangled web of allegiances and wars. England is my ally, but gives great financial support to my arch foe. Sapian is my ally, but has taken some key provinces in North Africa that Turkey needs to gain glory. Russia was supposed to be an ally, but we cannot coordinate anything-Czar Poid goes it alone. Prussia would no doubt want to fight the O.E., but is still in a bad state from the surprise attack by Russia and my little diplomatic "test" of causing an insurrection before the war even started.

France is the only nation that has some common interests with Turkey. We would coordinate activities, but both nations are clinging on in not very good circumstances. There are not very many options.

1799
Turkish Training Levels

The Ottoman Army has made some progress in training. Quartely "experience" has grown from 7 points to about 20. At this stage Turkey still lags far behind most nations-but the gap is closing. Austria is actually gaining experience far more quickly.

I have been able to add two doctrines thus far; rapid march and independent command. It fit best for my new strategy of using maneuver to attrit the Austrians.

July 1799
Austrian Doctrines

Austria has a clear lead. Not only does Emperor Matto gain from his numerous barracks, but from the many battles he has won. I gain about half the experience from loosing the battles.

June 1799
Battle Reports

You can see here that in each battle between Austria and the O.E., the Turks have lost. In each battle my losses are 2 to three times that of Austria's.

June 1799
Operational Map

Things have settled down a bit into a cat and mouse game. The Austrian Emperor is good at anticipating my various moves. He still must be careful as the Ottoman forces are large-and individual units are getting better. I have been using experience to add training to individual units.

July 1799
Strategic View

The English have been steadily building up forces on the continent to defeat Russia. At times, the locations of their forces can make one wonder just what the English King is planning.

June 1799
Economic Report

The economy is still strong. Moral has dropped from its level in '98. but overall, it looks better. The tax rate is being sustained at the highest level which means that production of goods is running smoothly. Monthly cash increase has improved also.

On the negative side, inflation has increased further. The reason for this inflation is the need to build new units. During this war with Austria I have lost many divisions-some surrendered and others destroyed. I have also had to build new artillery which is very expensive. There was also one heavy cavalry division which came at quite a cost-it was lost in battle very soon after deployment.

November 99
Krajina

During the later half of 1799 I consolidated in the mountains north of Belgrade (Karlsburg) and in my haven in Belgrade. Belgrade is an excellent province as an enemy will have to cross a major river, or march through mountains to bypass the rivers to attack. Except in the worst of times, I have felt safe in holding that province.

In keeping with my earlier decision to avoid battle with the main Austrian Armies I conducted a rapid move into Krajina during the late summer of 1799-away from the Austrian forces which were cleaning up around Grosswardein.
After a costly siege to capture the super fortress I withdrew the main Ottoman army back into Belgrade province. I suspect that Emperor Matto was planning on a remake of his victory at Krajina, but I had learned my lesson-the Turks got out of there before the Austrians arrived. Of course, I had put in a decent garrison of regular infantry into the fortress.

It was now Matto's turn to capture that powerful citadel. I am sure he suffered some significant losses during that siege-not as high as mine were I suspect, but many thousands.

December 1799
Strategic Map

It was during this time that I attempted to set up a joint plan of action with the Czar. I felt secure that the Austrian Empire had been weakened enough that a joint action could succeed in achieving total victory. Russia was at war with Austria before Turkey was, but they had little contact except for one major battle. As it transpired, no coordinated efforts materialized. The Czar thought it best that he finally surrender to England after the loss of St Petersburg.

Note the English Army in the North-it was a long siege.

December 1799
Strength Levels

You can get an idea of the level of the costs of the various wars in manpower by this chart. It seems to me that each horizontal block is about 3 months long and the vertical represent about 10,000 men.

There is a rough correlation of Turkish (brown) and Austrian (orange) strength charges during this period.

June 1800
Belgrade Area

Here we are, six months later and the Austrians are still sitting in Krajina-it is a powerful fortress. I was very much aware of the deterioration of the garrison-it was not going to last beyond June.

While Austria recaptured its various provinces north of Wallechia, I prepared for the coming battle of Belgrade. Initially, I concentrated my best forces in Belgrade. As time wore on, the 1st Army, commanded by the Sultan, was brought up to full strength.

I began to contemplate the possibility of the 1st Army being able to hold its ground on its own-or at least to make a very good showing in battle. I was finally able to get another training doctrine at this time. Due to the upcoming major battle, and the past contests, I chose the "organized withdrawal" doctrine.

With the first Army holding Belgrade on its own, I finally had an opportunity to take the initiative with the 2nd Army and some independent corps. I had long been contemplating a strike into Poland (which was conquered by Austria) and it looked like the time had finally come. The general idea was that Ottoman forces would sweep into eastern Austria, into southern Poland and possibly get within striking range of Vienna. The first Army, even if defeated, would still be able to block any further advance by Austria to the south. In any event, at some point Emperor Matto would have to address the threat in the north east. So, even if the battles did not go well, I would achieve another major bout of marching to and fro; further wearing down the Austrians. By this point in time I had ample replacements available. I could fight a major battle or two and quickly regain unit strength.

So, the stage was set. I was confident of hanging on and doing more damage than ever before, but there was still great concern as to how well the organized withdraw would work-if needed. If the first Army was routed, with the resulting loss of the best units and artillery in the Army, the future would be dim indeed.

There was another little Austrian operation going against Zara. The city had been under siege for a month, but was holding out OK. The Austrian army was rather small-about 45,000 men IIRC. I decided to try to help the garrison by sending the fleet-it actually work. Reports indicated that the garrison were receiving support from the Fleet.

June 1800
1st Army

This roster of the first Army shows both it current strength and special training of the individual units.
The reason that most of the units are not at full strength is that I would typically keep them at 85% in case of a rapid march requirement. I had avoided many thousands of casualties using that method. On the eve of the great battle, 100% strength was ordered.

Early on I opted for the "sustained volley" unit training-most divisions have that attribute.

1st Army Moral