As I look over the finished outline of this campaign, the thought occurred to me that someone out there might like to read what shape this is taking. So, from time to time, as the campaign takes form, I shall post updates to inform you of what is being accomplished. Here is the Informant for 13 June 2010:
I have come to the conclusion that what is appealing to me about a campaign set in the Holy Roman Empire – even if in an alternate history one! – the is complicated relationship among the various German states of the period, together with the relatively small armies that would be involved in any military conflicts. The Imperial Diet of the H.R.E. was essentially quiscent by the late 18th Century; the only remaining edicts passed and published of any significance to gamers is the creation of three new Electors in 1803: Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, Margrave of Baden and Duchy of Wurtemburg. The Diet had successfully curtailed the Imperial power within the Empire to such an extent that the Emperors could only rely upon their own assets in their Hapsburg holdings, the Austrian States as it were. Given that essential Imperial weakness, it was necessary for a considerable amount of dealing and trading of favors to be conducted in order to advance anything resembling a coherent Imperial policy. So, while the Imperial Diet was important, it was largely inactive; present but quiet. As a campaign factor, not of tremendous importance. Compare, for instance, the Houses of Parliament in England – for example – during the English Civil War and Interregnum which followed. Therefore, while votes in the Imperial Diet are potentially important even in the campaign, they’re not critical. It would seem that each session which had any significant issues before it would see factions and voting blocs forming based upon the princes’ view of their interest at the time, rather than as a part of some long-term program or plan.
You will recall that estates in Germany were not entailed and consequently were divided among all surviving sons more or less equally. Of course, as time went on, this had the effect of dividing the existing states into smaller and smaller polities, growing less and less effective as time went on. Of course, there were family compacts which directed inheritances upon the extinction of one or another branch of each land-holding family, but I have seen as many as eight distinct branches of a single noble family, all extant at the same time, and holding bits and pieces scattered all over the map. At the time of the Napoleonic Wars, in our timeline, there were perhaps as many as 300 separate and sovereign states in the H.R.E. Exciting, perhaps, for role-playing but difficult for campaign map-making. But, fortunately, they had organized the various states into what are called in English Imperial Circles, which grouped the various states geographically. This gives me a basis for two simplifications: (1) reducing the number of states in the campaign by means of the Circles, using the assignment of all the various small to tiny states as a basis for amalgamation of them into the larger states within each of the Circles – for example, all the Hessen states represented in a single Margravate of Hesse, rather than the unweildy number of smaller states located in and around the larger states of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt; (2) in potential, all of the member states of each Circle may be treated as if they were members of a political faction, sharing common objectives. The Circles contain Electors, rich states, poor states, etc, all giving a reason to separate the various Electors.
Next there were not so many different families who were important state-holders in the H.R.E., if you view the family as if it were made up of people who liked each other. Not true in real life, to be sure, but useful as a method of determining what a count or duke might do in any given circumstance and gives rise to another Characteristic for the nobles and that is “Loyalty”. It is also another dimension along which I can “slice” the various political states, with the potential, for example, that a family might join together to achieve a certain, specific, fairly short-term goal. Again, not all the Electors or full voters in the Diet are in the same family or the same branch. So, adding major families and a branch or two for some of them gives more cohesion and “atmosphere” to the campaign. From time to time, the H.R.E. did things based on family interests which strangers might not have done.
More later, as I sharpen these definitions and begin to write down the Circles, consolidate into two to six states the states that were actually in each Circle, see how the balance of votes in the Diet and Electors works out.
Filed under: Napoleonic Campaign
