Largest Historical Factions

[Aeratus]

Just for fun, I decided to plot on the map the largest historical factions for the 1080-1530 timeframe of the vanilla campaign.

The Turks (Ottoman Empire), c. 1530
Faction Leader: Suleiman the Magnificent
34 Provinces

The Ottomans did more conquering than any other faction during this period. Technically, the Ottomans started with 0 provinces, since their original province was too small to even be on the map, although there were other Turkish provinces during that time. The map above is not the full extent of the Ottoman Empire, which expanded after 1530 to include Baghdad (conquered from the Persians), Tbilisi, Crete, and Cyprus (which amazingly was not Ottoman territory yet), Tripoli, and other provinces. Whether Budapest should be part of the Empire is a bit debatable, since the area wasn't fully conquered until 1541, but the Ottomans did briefly enter Buda in 1526 after defeating the Christians at Mohacs.

HRE/Spain (Empire of Charles V), c. 1530
Faction Leader: Charles V, Habsburg Monarch and Holy Roman Emperor
33 Provinces

As suggested by how the two maps fit together in Eastern and Western part of the map, the Ottoman's rival was the Emperor Charles V. Only the complicated family tree of European Royalty could produce this empire. Charles V was the leader of the Habsburg dynasty, which ruled Spain, and eventually also became the Holy Roman Empire. During that time, Spain was in a period of expansion, including new world conquests, and even Tripoli. However, the vast majority of the provinces were obtained by inheritance, and not by conquest. Too bad it's not possible to inherit territory in M2, as it would be convenient to have the entire HRE turn to your faction while playing as Spain. Although one of the largest historical factions, this Empire falls well short of the Campaign goals by failing to eliminate rival factions such as Portugal, and failing to hold Jerusalem.

The Mongols, 1260
Faction Leader: Mongke Khan
23 Provinces

Although their empire was mostly off the map, the Mongols held around 20 provinces at 1260, which was their high tide into the Middle East. The map includes vassal states (Novgorod, Kiev, Bulgarians, Trebizond, Armenia, Antoich, the Turks), and the temporary conquests of Alleppo and Damascus, which were lost to Egypt after Hulegu Khan's withdrawal from Syria.

[Aura]

Good thread
Btw, for me the largest faction is my faction (Ingame of course )

[ChivalrousKiller]

What about the USSR?

[=Bright=]

What about the USSR?

The Russian Empire was bigger than the USSR, IIRC.

[ChivalrousKiller]

The Russian Empire was bigger than the USSR, IIRC.

You're right, but only just

The Empires of the British and the Mongols were bigger than both though

[Aeratus]

The USSR and British empire didn't exist during the 1080-1530 time period of the vanilla campaign, though.

[ChivalrousKiller]

The USSR and British empire didn't exist during the 1080-1530 time period of the vanilla campaign, though.

No one said they had to

[Aeratus]

No one said they had to

Yeah, sorry I should've specified that my original post was dedicated to M2 timeframe and factions.

The largest empires in all of history has been settled (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_empires), the largest being 1. British (33.7 million km square), 2. Mongol (33.0), and 3. Russian (23.7). Interestingly, the Empire of Charles V isn't on that list, probably because it's not considered to be a proper empire.

maybe we forgot Eastern Roman Empire?

The Eastern Roman Empire had 15 provinces at its largest extent during the M2TW period, under faction leader Alexius Komnenus (c. 1170). The Empire's vassals included the Principality of Antioch.

[dannyalex]

The Eastern Roman Empire had 15 provinces at its largest extent during the M2TW period, under faction leader Alexius Komnenus (c. 1170). The Empire's vassals included the Principality of Antioch.

u are saved from ur era u put the empires 1080-1500,cause if u check some years before 1080 u will see that Byzantine Empire was the biggest Empire in Europe but before 1080 ( see it at wikipedia also ),so for now u are correct

[Avatar]

Captain Edmund Blackadder perhaps best described the size of the British Empire in later years. "The British Empire covers two thirds of the worlds surface, the Germans have a small sausage factory in Tanganika". Of course in the timespan of this game, we (England) didnt even have full control of the British Isles, let alone the rest of Europe.

[Double A]

Captain Edmund Blackadder perhaps best described the size of the British Empire in later years. "The British Empire covers two thirds of the worlds surface, the Germans have a small sausage factory in Tanganika". Of course in the timespan of this game, we (England) didnt even have full control of the British Isles, let alone the rest of Europe.

Insert reference to Freud involving compensating here.

[dannyalex]

maybe we forgot Eastern Roman Empire?

[.L.]

No mention of the Angevins? England Ireland, some territories in the midde east and most of France? (the french territories technically belonged to the king, but it was basically lip service)

[.L.]

Also they had a ton of vassals

[the new username]

Polish-lithuanian commonwealth( crap this by pronvince)

btw this is by province, if not u could say many territories, like the hungarians, france too, denmark(controlled norway and sweden, but sweden had their independence in early XVI century

english empire didnt cove 2/3 of the earth's surface, in fact, it covered 1/3.vast african posseses, india canada the australian region(oceania) and other colonies in the atlantic and sout america, but having 2/3 its impossible

[=Bright=]

english empire didnt cove 2/3 of the earth's surface, in fact, it covered 1/3.vast african posseses, india canada the australian region(oceania) and other colonies in the atlantic and sout america, but having 2/3 its impossible

Actually it didn't even cover 1/3 but "only" about 1/4.

(Total land surface is 148,940,000 km², the British Empire had 33,700,000 km² ==> 22,6%)

If you want to have 2/3 of the world's land surface you'd need a giant empire with atleast Eurasia and Africa.

[Double A]

Poland-Lithuania wasn't very big by M2 standards, and was probably only moderately sized in real life (and that's only regarding territory).

And I don't think any coves take up 2/3 of the world's surface. That would be crazy.

[.L.]

Also for anyone saying the "English" took control of Britain, It was actually the scots that took over England through...marriage.

[smthhappy]

Well almost all of the time the english kings weren't english themselves.

[The Centurion]

Nor were most of the Scottish kings Scottish... Sorta. They were of Norman/French ancestry most of the time. At least the Stuarts were.