Report from the Imperial Campaign
or
How to restore a Holy Roman Empire
Imperial Pikes storming the Adriatic town of Fermo.
The troops are marching again. I can hear the stomping of their feet down on the street as they're leaving Bologna. They'll be moving south to support our Florentine allies in Tuscany or our Venetian allies on the Adriatic coast. The devil knows what drove the Pope to this madness of attacking us, but God knows we shall not rest until this heretic has been removed from the See of Peter.
Did he not see what happened to the Swiss when they refused to pay the common penny? - Their armies destroyed, their towns sacked, their lands put under imperial administration.
Did he ignore the fate of Milan, when it broke the treaty of the Holy League? - Milano and Genova fell under Imperial and Florentine assaults, Venetian armies marching into Lombardy from the east until only historical remarks remained of the duchy.
Was he deaf to the mournings of the French, when they lost Torino, Asti and Casale to Frundsberg and then had to surrender Saluzzo and Genčve in the peace treaty? - Now they are bereft of all their Italian ambitions with Imperial artillery ready to turn Lyon into ashes should they break the peace again.
No, he certainly was out of his mind when he ordered the attacks on Mantova and Parma, only to lose Guastalia, Modena and Bologna when our counterattack was launched. At first we thought the Florentines and Venetians would not be able to withstand the numbers of the Pope's armies, but with a bit of help they did unexpectedly well.
The Florentines quickly took back Arezzo, and then laid siege to Siena and Volterra, while the Venetians retook Ravenna and advanced on Rimini. Using our newly gained ports in Nolě and Padova we shipped troops behind the Papal lines and took Rome and Ancona, crippling their supply lines. It was only a small grievance that soon the Neapolitanians joined the war on the Pope's side. Legion after Legion is marching forth from our barracks and foundries and not even the Ottomans were able to withstand our joint advance with the loyal Hungarians.
Spain broke the ties with us, when the last Emperor died, however. What will they do, when we take Naples and Salerno and pose a threat to Sicily? Have they taken notice of our occupation of Corsica? Perhaps they are busy fighting the remaining Ottoman forces in Tunisia. We will find out - by force, if need be.
Heinrich Scherer - Imperial Scribe and Historian
Bologna, March 17, 1540 AD