War of the Grand Coalition (Principia Moderni III Map Game)

The War of the Grand Coalition (for other names, see below) is to date one of the largest conflicts. Its outcome shaped the future of the European continent, as well as the whole world. The treaty that followed created the Leopoldine doctrine, also known as Régime Équilibré in francophone areas, a pivotal doctrine that was created to maintain a status quo.

Nomenclature
The most common name for the war, and the one most used by historians is the War of the Grand Coalition, the Grand Coalition actually being the Grand European Coalition and the United Islamic Nations. Other names for the war are: Other names are known, but are not of notable importance, which is why they were not added to the list.
 * Liberation of Lombardy (in Northern Italy and much of the Holy Roman Empire)
 * Second Liberation of Rome (in the Roman Empire and southern Italy)
 * Grand Colonial War (in Borealia and Hesperia)
 * Grand Jihad (in UIN nations)
 * Great War (unofficially by some historians and military)
 * Gibraltar War (Croatia)

Background
The background for the war has been deemed extremely complex due to the amount of nations involved. An important part of the war was the fact that the Empire of Hispania had holdings on all continents.

France initiated the war due to tensions that had been growing since the start of the Caribbean piracy crisis, which the grew further during the British succession crisis. France also had a history of being the second world power, which was further cemented by the war between France and Hispania in Borealia, which resulted in a French loss. Another important factor included the onset of the industrial revolution, which France had a potential of exploiting to technologically overpower Hispania.

Rome, as the first nation to follow, was a close ally of France, and with the growing amount of ethnic groups in the Roman Empire, as well as a revolution that led to lessening the Emperor's power, attacked in order to enforce its hegemony as the Roman Empire, a Roman Empire that controlled Rome as well. The Imperial government reasoned that reclaiming Rome would be a point of pride for all inhabitants of the Empire and lend further proof to the official national identity of being "Roman." After attacking on the European front, the Roman Empire also opened up a colonial front to defend its colonial possessions as well as expand potential trade bases.

The issue was, however, fiercely debated in the Imperial government beforehand. The Senate in Constantinople debated various topics ranging from whether the Empire could defeat Spain, whether the war was economically worth it, the effects of adding another ethnicity and culture to both the Senate and the Empire, and the importance of Rome as a target. Despite such gridlocks, the common people supported the war, as in their mind Rome was starting to be powerful once more and should rightfully take back its ancestral homeland. War with Spain was declared shortly after news of the war between Spain and France arrived at Constantinople.

Britannia, as the second nation to follow was once, alongside Hispania and France, part of the Triple Alliance and recently exiting a succession crisis, attacked in order to reaffirm its status as a major power and increase its colonial holdings, which were stunted by the Treaty of Westminster, which is now acknowledged as a Spanish tool that was used to expand its colonial empire without being threatened by France and Britannia.

Bavaria and Croatia both had similar casi bellum, but primarily it was to gain more Adriatic influence, which was highly important for Bavaria, since it lacked a port on the Adriatic.

Concerning Bavaria, war with Hispania was a hotly contested issue in the newly created German Diet (Parliament). Many parliamentarians, especially Bavarians, supported Spain, mostly due to old alliances and frequent aid in wars. On the other end of the spectrum, an overwhelming majority of Austrians advocated war against the Hispanic Empire, citing the foul treatment and abuse many Austrians faced during the Spanish-Austrian War in the 1650s. Furthermore, as the de facto Diet leader Ferdinand von Ingschaft noted, a war with Spain would allow Bavaria to annex areas containing Austrian and Austro-Italian peoples, specifically the region of Tyrol. In a clever example of compromise and shrewd politics, von Ingschaft announced to the Bavarians and Austrians in parliament that if the Kingdom of Bavaria enter the war against the Spanish, Bavaria would be able to annex Tyrol and the neighboring Kingdom of Venezia and not grant it to the Austrians. With this, many undecided Bavarians were swept towards war by the promise of recovering Germanic lands. However, most important to the majority of Bavarians was the prospect of owning a Mediterranean port. In this case, the Kingdom of Venezia, itself containing the ancient, luxurious, and wealthy city of Venice, was extremely appetizing to the government of Bavaria. War was declared on Hispania on June 18th, 1737.

Croatia, on the other hand, was perhaps not so divided, but initially still internally conflicted. The numerous Sabors of the Bajandom had already known that if the Bajan truly wishes for the war to happen, it will, somehow, happen. Bajan Ivan Torkvat Karlović I, of the Gusić genus, had been initially reluctant to join the war, as he did not see much gain from it. However, wanting to assure that the Karlovićs, and through them the Gusićs, were able to hold onto the Bajan position for more than one generation, he was set to show the power of his kin. Organizing the strategy with Field Marshall Ivaniš II. Nelipić and Grand Admiral Nikola Saraka, he was set to rename the Adriatic Sea mare nostrum once more. Moreover, the Field Marshall was set on repaying the Venetians for the Siege of Zadar, especially since his mother was a member of the Draganić family, a notable house hailing from Zadar (Zara). Grand Admiral Nikola Saraka was more keen on making sure the gates of Otranto were free to be used by the Croat navy, because of his Ragusan ancestry, he planned on empowering the Bajandom and increasing its trade network freely.

Netherlands, alongside Westphalia, had the goal of expanding a colonial empire and reclaiming the position of a major power, something which the Dutch lost due to the civil war, amongst other things.

The Nations of the UIN primarily attacked after being informed of the war being declared in Europe. Known as the Great Jihad in UIN lands, it was seen as an opportunity to drive out a major threat out of Asia, especially to the Urdustani, which were on the verge of finally unifying the Indian subcontinent. The nation of Hispania also had a history of bad relations with the UIN, primarily due to the Marrikuwuyanga war.

Europe
The European threatre consisted of the Spanish front and the Italian front, on both of which was Hispania being overwhelmed.

Invasion of Spain proper
The Invasion of Spain proper was the first one initiated, starting on 6 March 1737, due to rather good weather. Led by French General, the main French forces, consisting of one hundred fifty thousand soldiers attacked through the Navarra region, through which they were able to pass because of Navarrese rebels against Hispanic authority. The remaining 50,000 French forces landed near the city of Lloret de Mar, from which they marched towards Barcelona.

Invasion of Italy
The Invasion of Italy was started by the Roman Empire shortly after the declaration of war. However, it would be about a month before the Imperial Fleet had managed to weaken the Spanish Fleet before an invasion fleet could be assembled. After the first month of September, the Italian Fleet was in disarray and most of the Spanish Fleet was concentrated in fighting against the French and British Fleets in other theatres.

The first possession to be seized by the Roman Invasion Fleet was the island of Malta, which was essential for the Coalition, as it helped sever the Spanish connection between east and west and also ceased to be a potential base for a Spanish invasion of Africa or Greece. The island was seized within a month with little resistance as much of the enemy fleets were concentrated elsewhere and most of the Italian and Spanish forces were concentrated in mainland Italy and Sicily.

Soon after Rome declared war on Italy, so did Croatia. The Croat forces had devised a strategy that proved to be most effective. Much of the Croat fleet went on to land near Vieste, which fell within a manner of weeks due to its small size, after which the fleet went towards Bari, pillaging and raiding alongside the coast in order to deplet the Italians of resources and to force them to go towards them, which would later ease the Roman fleet passing the gates of Otranto.

The field army marched through the Veneto region, and led by Field Marshall Ivaniš II. Nelipić, marched on the city of Venice, besiegeing it for 3 days and sacking it for 13, which became known as the Sack of Venice. After Venice, the forces marched forward towards Padua, which they besieged for a month. As Czech and Silesian reinforcements arrived, the forces split and attacked Bologne and Ravenna. After the five-week siege of Ravenna, the forces advanced to Rimini, where they met up with a smaller portion of the fleet that had stayed behind in Rijeka.

After the 4 week siege of Bologne, the second portion of the forces marched towards Firenze, while the first part went on to liberate the Most Serene Republic of San Marino. Although the Sanmarinese had little to no troops, the Croat forces were bolstered by about 18 volunteers who wanted to aid their liberators.

Once the two month siege of Firenze had ended, they marched towards Arezzo, which was, to their surprise, already conquered by the rest of the forces. Once they regrouped and rested for a few weeks, as well as called on reinforcement from the Bajandom, they marched on towards Terni and Rieti, where they waited until they developed a plan with the Romans regarding the attack on Rome.

Following the capture of Malta, the naval situation became easier to manage and the first steps for invasion of the Italian mainland could begin. Roman ships began the bombardment of coastal defenses and forts around the city of Syracuse in Sicily. After a bombardment lasting a few days, Roman forces took the city in mid November. An Italian army was defeated outside the city and the Romans soon turned Syracuse into their center of operations and began planning on taking Palermo and Messina.

Roman forces also began to shell the defences surrounding the southern city of Bari in Italy around the same time as the capture of Syracuse. Roman and Croatian ships shelled the city for several days as Roman and Croatian forces gathered near Brindisi, which was captured earlier that January. The enemy forces were soon routed from the area near Bari and the city was captured by the end of February.

The war continued to progress well for the Romans, with the fall of Messina and Benevento shortly after the landfalls of Syracuse and Brindisi respectively. Roman military planners hoped to seize Naples and Palermo before the end of the campaign season, but where unable to do so. The campaign paused at the start of the summer of 1738, as diseases in the summer made it difficult to fight and march.