-Year 1619-
from July to December

“All quiet on the eastern front“ became a common phrase in Vienna by the end of December. Although Austrian forces besieged Turkish forts in Balkan and Hungary they made no moves to actually attack those fortifications. Austrian attempt to go around those forts also failed when Turks managed to build another two forts on the border and after that the war slowed down. However, more interesting news came from Prague. Frederick V, King of Bohemia, died. Since the only legitimate heir was the Emperor Ferdinand II all Bohemian lands became his property once again. This angered the people in Bohemia because just a year ago they had received independence from the Habsburg rule.

In France, people were not as carefree as the people in Vienna. Their army in Germany was destroyed by the Swiss and Spanish entered Southern provinces of Milan after wiping out a small French mercenary force there. The most painful loss for the French was the death of general de Caumont by the Swiss hands, though. At first things might look bad for Louis XIII but the look can be deceitful. France had several forts on the border and which bought them some time to raise another army to replace those they lost. Although two of them, Chateau Subotan and SpainSmells(Louis XIII must be going crazy?), were under siege they still had a chance to win this war. The help had came from the most unexpected place. Namely, Swiss had given it's lands in Southern Germany to Saxony and thus the Swiss had reduced their territory size greatly. A strong French army might try to invade Switzerland while the Swiss were occupied with the siege of the French fort. Also, Swedish king Gustav II Adolf, honoring his alliance with Louis XIII, declared war on Spain who now have to fight in three fronts and could possibly lose it's holdings in Netherlands.

While the French, Spanish and Swiss fought their war in Western Europe,their neighbors increased their military. Whether they felt themselves threatened or not,it was a fact that most nations had armies ten or twenty times larger than they were just couple of years ago. Will this lead to another war only time will tell.

Though the wars were the main subject for discussion in taverns across the Europe, people also heard the news how Portugal fought terrible „battles“ against desert sands and sun in Algeria. They also could heard how Transylvania increased it's territory by cutting previously Ottoman controlled Wallachia in two and conquering small states in Moldavia.

The map:
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