Anglo-Burgundian Wars (Principia Moderni IV Map Game)

Anglo-Burgundian Wars Principia Moderni IV
Raid on the Medway during the First Anglo-Burgundian War
Date 1573 - 1577 1601 - 1603 1620 - 1622 1634 - 1639 1647 - 1654 1886 - 1887 (Commonwealth War) 1914 - 1919 (as part of the Great War Location Low Countries, North Sea, English Channel, Arcadia, Tainoan Sea

The Anglo-Burgundian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Kingdom of England and its realms (Wales, Ireland, and later Scotland), and the Kingdom of Burgundy. They were fought between varying lengths of peace from the late sixteenth century through to the XXXX (who knows) century for control of colonies, primarily in northeastern Arcadia. Due to the geographic nature of the two countries, there were many naval battles.

Background

During the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, neither England nor the maritime provinces of the Low Countries, Flanders and Holland had been major European sea powers on a par with commerce-driven sea powers such as Venice, Genoa, Portugal, Castile or Aragon. As the Age of Exploration stimulated global trade, the Burgundians and English—both influenced by mercantilism and by centuries of interaction with each other over fisheries, the wool trade, and Baltic ships' stores—were driven to look for colonies and wealth in the New World.

The Burgundians would reach the new world first, initially establishing colonies on Kuba and Jaymaika in the Tainoan Sea, followed by Guyana and New Netherlands on the Laurentian and Arcadian mainlands respectively. Despite the Burgundian head start, the English would arrive not long afterwards, establishing a sizable colonies at Avalon, New Gwynedd, and New London.

In the 1560s, England and Prussia were united under a single monarch. Despite Prussia's close relationship with Burgundy, the English business class and nobility became hostile to Burgundy due to overlapping claims in the New World. The sentiment was similar in Burgundy, and Dutch merchants saw English claims as a rich opportunity to control Arcadian trade. It was their mutual relationship with Prussia which swayed both camps away from conflict for the time being.

Legacy

The rivalry between England and Burgundy festered a naval arms race between the two powers, resulting in a wave of naval innovation not seen since the early sixteenth century.

The conflicts confirmed the obsolescence of boarding-centric naval combat, which had been falling out of favor by the major naval powers. Once more, galleons, which had grown to be the primary surface combatant, became larger and larger as each side looked for a combat advantage over the other. By the 1640s, in the aftermath of the Fourth War, both sides were fielding galleons armed with 74, 80, and as many as 98 guns. The size increase resulted in a new designation for the warships: "Ship-of-the-Line".