The weaving path of opportunity

It's funny how things come together sometimes.

I have been considering what map I want to use for the Greater Northern War campaign. It needs sufficient detail for map movement, but not so much that it is overawing.

I had a search for a contemporary map (contemporary to the early 18thC, that is) that could do the trick. One looked promising.

Map of Europe in 1700 from Atlas Minor ou Briesve available online from the Royal Belgian Library.

Then I realised that it lacked sufficient detail. It and others in that atlas will be useful for reference though.

As will those from King George's Military Collection and the Digitales Archiv Marburg. None will do for a map for the campaign.

The idea of merging maps from contemporary boardgames (contemporary to us, that is) came up in discussion between Julian and me. Getting the scales to fit could be tricky, but the main negative is that I don't want to use hexes.

It seemed that the only answer was to draw my own.

Where to start?

I have a Rand McNally Atlas of World History that seemed a good starting point. None of the maps can be used directly as they have arrows and text relating to the points that are being made/period shown. So, again a useful resource, but not THE resource.

Then, I found that someone had drawn a blank map of Europe in 1700. Seemed marvellous!

Political map of Europe in 1700 (by a user hurricanehunter on DeviantArt).

All I had to do was to print it on a large sheet of paper and draw in the bits that I wanted... Hmmm. Perhaps not. What about if I used it as a background in my drawing package EasyDraw? Yeah, that would be better and easier. Or would it?

Oh dear, this was getting all too hard. Perhaps I would have to just use a hex map after all. Time to think about it for a bit.

Work came to the 'rescue'. I picked up a project that meant I had a lot to do in a short space of time, so no time to think about drawing maps (or even to paint figures).

Yet, opportunity weaves an interesting path.

As part of the project, I did some simple statistical analyses using R. Now, R is probably something most of you have never heard of. It is a computer language, developed from S and S plus, that is open source (i.e. completely free), and is supported by a huge community of people who develop packages for tasks related to data analysis, visualisation, manipulation... and more. In short, it is bloody amazing.

R is script-based, so can take time to work out, but, because of that, it is really flexible. There are loads and loads of examples on the web (back to that huge community).

Anyway, in addition to doing my bit of stats, I wanted to present a spatial representation of locations for the data, but one that was somewhat 'opaque'. I'd seen a graph done by a colleague in another project, where the locations of data points had been presented on axes of longitude and latitude. Brilliant.

Two-three hours of searching, finding options, changing script, getting errors, repeat and repeat and I had my graph.

What (the #@$!) does this have to do with my map for the campaign? In searching for how to do this, I found examples or how to draw graphs in R.

"Hang on a minute," I said. "I'll save those pages for later and see what they are about."

A brief version of 'later' came along and I looked at the examples on the web more closely. I was excited at the prospect. I even found a heap of publicly available shape files that would probably help with layers for my maybe, eventual map.

A bit more 'later' came today when I had finished the reports, so I decided to have a first pass at drawing a map.

This quick, first pass developed into several hours, but I am happy with progress and the prospect of having something functional, flexible and reproducible.

Following the steps in the example on the web and using the R package 'rnaturalearth' gave me this preliminary map (scaling a map of the world to show the bit that we need for this campaign).

I did not want the borders of the countries, which are modern. How to remove them? Too easy, as it turned out as it had been done for me. Simply use the set 'coastline' from the R Natural Earth collection. Overlaying the rivers and lakes took a bit of search, try, fail, search, try again, but I got there!

One overlay done, I was off. Mountain areas from the European Environmental Agency (probably too coarse, so I'll have to keep looking).

I need some cities. What had I done wrong? Ah, this was only a sample file. Not public domain, they want payment for this set of data circa 1700.

The free World Cities dataset worked, just a few too many!!

Making them grey is a nicer look, but still too many. No matter. I can edit the Excel file and reload it as a shape file (or just make my own from scratch).

That was enough for now.

 

Happy with progress so far and having a way to improve what I have—edit the cities, try to find a file with a better representation of the mountains—it is time to turn in.

 

Good night.

A bit more applied history

Buoyed by some encouraging comments to my last post, here's a bit more about the campaign—you should not encourage him, you know!

I am becoming a bit obsessed with this! Over the weekend, I made some improvements to the document, a few additions and edits to the diplomatic events and national interest and began the lists for the initial military forces (army and navy),  and reinforcements. I have decided to call it the 'Campaign of the 'Greater' Great Northern War'.

This is one of the aspects of the wargaming hobby that I enjoy immensely; applied historical analysis, as I like to think of it. It involves compiling and synthesising information from secondary and tertiary sources (occasionally primary) to produced something that can drive and inform the applied historical analysis that is historical wargaming.

This tertiary (or perhaps quarternary?) level of historical writing involves very much riding on the shoulders of others. I have several books that I have been using to date and some others that I expect to use as we go along. They reflect my main focus of the northern and eastern spheres—I'll be relying on Julian to fill gaps for the west.

The Great Northern War Compendium

When this came out, I delayed for a long time before I took the plunge and purchased my copies (both volumes). It was at the upper range of price that I was prepared to pay for books (something that has moved further upwards since then!) and I wondered how much it would add to Höglund's books (thinking of them chiefly for uniform details).

I should not have hesitated, as I was really pleased with them once they arrived—still chiefly considering them for army and uniform details. They have really come into their own in the past couple of weeks. Some of those chapters that I thought were a bit 'tangential' to the main aspects of the Great Northern War have become really, really useful now that I too am considering it in it's widest context. An aspect that I really like about the compendium is that, while the chapters are quite brief they provide sufficient information to be informed about each topic, each provides a list of sources/further reading, most of which are readily accessible/available. Having read chapters here and there, I now have it on my reading list for the near future, to go from cover to cover.

The Great Northern War 1700–1721 Colours and Uniforms

Höglund and Sallnäs (Höglund, Sallnäs and Bespalow)'s books are a magnificent, detailed source of information about the armies of the nations involved in the Great Northern War, the battles and campaigns that each unit was present at, initial strength and, of course, uniform and colours. Introductory chapters (and to each army) provide background and some of the specifics about each nation.

 

Charles XII of Sweden

I came late to Ragnhild Hatton's biography of Charles. Boy was it worth the 'wait'. It is one of the best pieces of historical writing that I have ever read and the most engaging read since Alistair Horne's 'Price of Glory'—and I have only finished the first section 'Book One'. The information about Charles' character, background and family have been most useful in drafting the National Interest section for Sweden for the campaign. I have had to set it aside temporarily as a copy of Double Eagle and Crescent that I ordered through our library arrived sooner than expected, so I need to prioritise reading that. I look forward to getting back to Hatton!

Peter the Great

Robert Massie's acclaimed biography of Peter I is another book that I have come to late. I saw a re-release of it in a bookshop at the airport in Perth around the turn of the century but, stupidly, did not buy it. Ah well, I have a second hand copy of the original version now and it is on the current reading list.

Russian Rebels, 1600-1800: Four Great Rebellions Which Shook the Russian State in the Seventeenth  and Eighteenth Centuries

I found out about Avrich's book about three rebellions in Russia, including Bulavin's, when looking up a bit of information about it on the web. Second hand copy promptly obtained and it too is on the current reading list!

The Army of the Rákóczi War of Independence 1703-1711

I think that this is primarily a book of uniforms, but no doubt it will have some interesting background as well, perhaps even some army lists/strenghts? I have it on back-order. Hopefully it will be in stock and dispatched soon.

Wars And Soldiers In The Early Reign Of Louis XIV. Volume 2: The Imperial Army, 1657-1687.

A fine book that I'll do a review of in due course While it deals with an earlier period, Mugnai's description of the Holy Roman Empire, Reichsarmee and brief biography of Leopold I have provided some useful 'fodder'.

Double Eagle and Crescent

Like Mugnai's book, this one is from an earlier period (Siege of Vienna), but the impacts of that conflict are important background to this campaign. He also has a useful description/assessment of Leopold I

By Defeating My Enemies: Charles XII of Sweden and the Great Northern War 1682-1721  & Peter The Great Humbled: The Russo-Ottoman War of 1711

These two are also on the current reading list, but I won't get to them until I have read those above.

The Battle That Shook Europe: Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire

 

I read Peter Englund's excellent book some time ago. His mini-biographies of several of the Swedish generals will be most useful for the campaign.

Websites

Örjan Martinsson's Tacitus.nu website is an absolute gem. To an extent, I am re-treading the path that he has already trod in assimilatiing information about the various beligerents. I won't be producing anything that will be 1/10th of the quality and beauty what he has done though!

I stumbled on The War of Spanish Succession website (the name of the author is not given) when I began the document for this campaign. It is another wonderful compilation and will provide the starting point for information about the 'south-western' nations and their armies form which Julain can add or adapt.

The Wyre Forest Gamers site has an archive for the Great Northern War (amongst others) that is packed with useful information about armies and army lists (as well as scenarios for games of historic battles.

References

Avrich, P (1976) Russian Rebels, 1600-1800: Four Great Rebellions Which Shook the Russian State in the Seventeenth. First Published 1972. W. W. Norton & Company, New York. 309 pp.

Barker, TM (1967) Double eagle and crescent; Vienna's second Turkish siege and its historical setting. State University of New York Press, Albany. 447 pp.

Dorrell, N (2018) Peter The Great Humbled: The Russo-Ottoman War of 1711. Century of the Soldier 1618-1721 #22. Helion & Company, Solihull, England. 104 pp.

Englund, P (2013) The Battle That Shook Europe: Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire. First Published 1992. Reprinted 2013. I.B.Tauris Reprint edition edition. 287 pp.

Glaeser, M (2020) By Defeating My Enemies: Charles XII of Sweden and the Great Northern War 1682-1721. Century of the Soldier 1618-1721 #60. Helion & Company, Solihull, England. 190 pp.

Hatton, RM (1968) Charles XII of Sweden. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London. 656 pp.

Höglund, L-E and Sallnäs, Å (2000) The Great Northern War 1700–1721 Colours and Uniforms. Acedia Press, Karlstad. 142 pp.

Höglund, L-E, Sallnäs, Å and Bespalow, A (2006) The Great Northern War 1700–1721, II. Sweden's allies and enemies Colours and Uniforms. Acedia Press, Karlstad. 142 pp.

Kling (Jr.), SL (Ed.) (2015) Great Northern War Compendium The Historical Game Company. 332 pp.

Kling (Jr.), SL (Ed.) (2015) Great Northern War Compendium The Historical Game Company. 304 pp.

Massie, RK (1982) Peter the Great: His Life And World. First Published 1981. Abacus Books. 909 pp.

Mugnai, B (2019) Wars And Soldiers In The Early Reign Of Louis XIV. Volume 2: The Imperial Army, 1657-1687. Century of the Soldier 1618-1721 No. 47. Helion & Company, Solihull, England. 301 pp. 

Somogyi, G (2018) The Army of the Rákóczi War of Independence 1703-1711. HM Zrínyi, 98 pp.

Websites

A Guide to Armies of the Great Northern War. Wyre Forest Gamers https://www.wfgamers.org.uk/great-northern-war/gnw-guide-to-armies

Martinsson, O. Armies of the Great Northern War https://www.tacitus.nu/gnw/armies/index.htm

The Spanish Succession http://www.spanishsuccession.nl/

 

My head is spinning

I have completed a first draft of some rules for a campaign that will cover most of Europe between 1700–1721.

Karl XII and the Duke of Marlborough by Doyle

 

My recent reading has been around military history in the north and east of Europe in the mid-17th and early 18th centuries: Long Turkish War, Transylvania, Poland-Lithuania, Sweden, Ottomans, Muscovy, Deluge, Great Turkish War and, of course, the Great Northern War. The often complex intertwining and links from one to the other start to fall out. I wondered about an historical-wargaming exercise to run from one to the other. A look at a list of conflicts in Europe (my goodness haven't they been at each other for ages, is it all that they do?!) showed that it could perhaps be done.

I mentioned it to Julian ahead of our most recent catch-up (when he helped me to re-start the game of Klissow) and he jumped at the idea. For years he has been keen on a campaign to link the War of Spanish Succession and Great Northern War. He was not averse to expanding it further east.

We discussed some of the concepts when we caught up and made a few broad decisions: it is a goer, we'll probably do it as a two-player exercise, we want to capture the essence of the period(s), but want a pragmatic approach, not getting bogged-down in too much unnecessary detail. We left it that I'd work on a draft, slowly and we'd eventually progress to something that we might commence next year (sometime).

Where to begin?

I have rules for campaigns for the 1807–14 Peninsular War and western theatre of the American Civil War that were derived from ideas that I first read in Quarrie's Napoleonic Wargaming. The former Dad and I had played, off and on, over several years in the 1980s and 90s. The latter, derived from the Peninsular rules, I ran for a while at the Napoleonic Wargaming Society in the early 90s; until I went overseas for a while. Neither had been run to a completion, but they both had worked, well enough, and served the wargamer's purpose of producing table-top games.

This new concept is, of course, a level or three above those is scope; both space and time.

Not to be deterred (sensible?), I began by grabbing the most recent of those documents, the western theatre of the American Civil War, and, after finding software to open it(!), saved a copy for editing.

I began with a few edits of the rules, before reading and making notes about people and events of the years for this campaign. I wanted to have a timeline of events, both recent ones up to the beginning of the campaign (1th February 1700, Gregorian calendar) and others during the years covered that will be deemed to occur—the death of King Charles II of Spain being an obvious one. Oh, my goodness, how this expanded and blew out!

Despite, or perhaps because of this, I got a bit impatient so, over the past few days I have obsessed/focussed on this so as to produce a first draft. Very much a first draft.

I produced rules from my ’template’ of those for an American Civil War Western Campaign. Turns will be monthly (reducing to weekly or even daily if required for the movement of forces in close proximity). Independent forces are given orders (as broad as reasonable), new orders and messages are sent, forces move, supply and attrition are worked out and then any table-top battles resolved. There are also some rules for campaign-scale engineering and weather.

I adapted, simplified and honed the rules from the 20th century composition of rules for the 19th, but they will still require a lot of testing, adapting and even re-writing. I envisage that we’ll likely need to tweak them as and when we actually use them.

Most of my effort went into two appendices: the Timeline and National Interest.

The events for the timeline were far more than I initially thought, but they helped to direct some of the National Interest and some random events too (see later). I have included the following:

The National Interest is the key to it. It took me the longest and made my head spin! This information provides guidelines for all nations/groups regarding overall aims and some key characteristics of the ruler.

I included information for (roughly from north to south, west to east): Sweden, Russia, Ukrainian Cossacks, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Denmark-Norway, Holstein-Gottorp, Mecklenburg,
Hamburg, Brandenburg-Prussia, Hanover, Saxony, Bavaria, Dutch Republic, England (later Britain), France, Hapsburgs (Holy Roman Empire, Archdukedom of Austria, Kingdom of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia), Hungarian Kuruc, Crimean Khanate, Ottoman Empire, Spain, Duchy of Savoy and Papal States. I think that I will need a section for the Italian States.

This information provides broad guidelines. There will be a fair amount of ‘kriegsspieling’, which I think will be an enjoyable part of it. We can work out jointly what the other nations will do, each taking control of those most directly impacting the country that the other controls. I have also included some randomised, Diplomatic Events (Cévennes War, Bashkir Rebellion, Bulavin Rebellion, Jacobite Rising, Ottoman War (with Hapsburgs), Hungarian Kuruc War of Independence, Cossack revolt in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and left bank Cossacks siding with Sweden). Each of these is determined by a die roll, modified for events in the 'host' nation and diplomacy/undermining of that state.

There is still a lot to do. My next big activity will be Appendix III, the forces for each nation/group and initial positions—land and sea.

I expect it to take a long while to get the document to a point where we will be able to use it. Added to this, we do not yet have a map/maps to use as the campaign map! I also envisage that the campaign itself will be a long, hopefully enjoyable activity that we'll conduct over numerous years to come.