A new chapter is to be added to New Byzantium's chequered history, and that is the 1848 Revolts. In 1848 a wave of nationalism swept Europe.
In nearby Austria-Hungary from March 1848 through July 1849, the Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Croats, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Ruthenians, Romanians, Serbs and Italians, all attempted revolution to either achieve autonomy, independence, or even hegemony over other nationalities. A Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist uprising began in June in the principality of Wallachia, closely connected with the 1848 unsuccessful revolution in Moldavia, it sought to overturn the administration imposed by Imperial Russian authorities.
New Byzantium*, in common with many Balkan principalities under Turkish rule, was slowly re-gaining a form of internal independence, but this event proved too compelling for the ambitious Grand Zupan of Trans Syldavia, which is the north-western most province of New Byzantium, who saw an opportunity to increase his personal power, prestige and wealth from the Austro-Hungarian civil war.
In short, we have decided to do the "1848" for skirmish gaming (small and large), and my Worthy Opponent is building Hungarians while my Imagi Nation of Trans-Syldavia will try and get their grubby paws on some Magyar Banat.
Trans Syldavian Forces are taken from the bits and pieces of Balkan and Turkish stuff I have collected over the years:
- The Zupan's Guard Zouaves
- The two battalions of the local Trans Syldavian Infantry
- Ditto the Trans Syldavian Artillery Company
- Trans Syldavian City Militias and Gendarmes
- The Austrian TransSyldaviner Grenz (Border) Regiment that has turned to defend the homeland
- Tran-Syldavian local Balkan light horse companies (Deli/Huszar style)
- Local bandits/peasants/mountain men/etc
(*The New Byzantine Conquest of Trans Syldavia in 1761, which was the original project, has been shelved for this newer, shinier, bigger project. We will have to get back to that one, one day)
