The Siege of the Fortress of Konrad, also known as the Siege of Konrad, is one of the most important points in Hurliherzistani history, and marks the cooperation of the Swiss and German sides of Hurliherzistan. However, it is also the start of the Colonial Decline Period of Hurliherzistan.
The Hurliherzistani government baracaded themselves in New Zurich, while Wilhelm Kuhn (see the Early Colonial section) prepared for a final defense of the fortress. The Spanish turned their forces on the fortress first, knowing that that is where most of the resistance would be. As the Spanish settled in for a siege of the fortress, a siege they thought would be short, the Swiss army was on the move. Many years ago, when Frederick Becker (see the Early Colonial section) first realized that the Bavarians who outnumbering the Swiss in the military, he had called for a contingent of the Swiss military to come and protect their colony. The Swiss had said that they could not help at the moment, and they also did not have the navy to transport a useful amount of troops to the New World. Becker had decided he could not count on their help, and had planned for other options. But, his plan failed, and the Ohlone didn’t win. Now, Kuhn, Becker, and all of their allies in the New World would be killed. However, the Swiss finally came through. After the Swiss army was hired by the French to crush the British invaders in the Seven Years War, the French did not have the money to pay the Swiss, so they paid what they could and owed the Swiss a favor. The Swiss has heard about Spanish troops massing in Monterey, and knew they had to act quickly. The called in their favor with the French and transported a large contingent, over 20% of their army, across the Atlantic. They went around Cape Horn to avoid detection, and secretly disembarkered in Monterey. The Spanish were winning the siege, they had not bought a navy, and were therefore not able to deal with the two Swiss-German boats in the are. The only reason the Fortress of Konrad survived was on food and materials brought from the northern bay, collected by the crew, and shipped down to the fortress. It had been three weeks, of the original 256 soldiers defending the fortress, only 122 remained. The Swiss relief force sent a contingent to sneak by the Spanish and get into New Zurich.
October 24:
21:00 - Swiss relief contingency is sent to infiltrate the Spanish lines and sneak into New Zurich.
23:00 - Swiss relief contingency gets a meeting with Becker.
October 25:
00:00 - Plans are drafted and the contingency force is sent back to get their general and command staff.
01:00 - The general and command staff arrive.
04:00 - Plans are finalized and the general and his staff go back to the main force, leaving a 128 man contingent behind to defend New Zurich, just in case.
06:00 - The army is briefed and ready to attack.
Sunrise - The attack begins.
The Swiss army slowly closed in on the Spanish, who were all clumped at the tip of the peninsula, besieging the fort. The Swiss catch the Spanish off guard, facing the wrong way, and with their backs to the water. It was a massacre, 5,000 elite Swiss soldiers agains around 1,500 Spanish recruits. The Swiss took minimal casualties, while the Spanish took 99% casualties. During the battle, Becker took a boat to see Kuhn. Becker is accompanied by 64 veteran Swiss soldiers. With all his men guarding the walls, Kuhn has 24 Bavarian loyalists with him. The negotiations quickly turns into a possible firefight, as both sides points guns at the other. Becker asks Kuhn why he shouldn’t just shoot Kuhn right there and then for treason. Kuhn surrenders. On the front lines, the Swiss have just about won, and are finishing of the last pockets of Spanish troops. However, what they don’t know is that the Spanish had requested reinforcements from the from the three month old city of San Diego. These reinforments were only about 500 strong, and were mainly to being siege equipment, but also a small naval force of four light warships and one ship-of-the-line was sent to block resources brought by boat. The Spanish reinforcements saw what was happening, and attacked New Zurich. With the token force sent to garrison the city halved, due to Becker’s expidition, the city didn’t stand a chance. The 64 men put up a staunch defense, but it wasn’t enough. Most of the troops died at the walls, but citizens and soldiers alike fought from house to house, making it extremely difficult to take the city. Eventually, the Spanish set fire to multiple buildings around the perimeter. Citizens rushed to get water, but by the time they had put out the fire, only some buildings in the center of the city, like the capital building, survived. The Spanish pressed their advantage, but Becker was on his way back. He saw the smoke in the distance and new, at least partially, what was happening. He didn’t have anyone to spare, and had very little military experience himself, so he looked to Kuhn. He allowed Kuhn’s men to be given their weapons back and Kuhn to lead the totalled 88 strong seasoned battalion into New Zurich, while Becker rode to the main army to let them know what was happening. By the time Kuhn got there, it was a massacre. Spanish troops murdering anyone they saw not dressed in a Spanish army uniform. Kuhn, the brilliant general that he was, ordered the Swiss to troops to start firing on the Spanish, and divert their attention from the civilians. The Spanish went on the offensive and Kuhn got his men behind cover. During this time, the 24 Bavarians were slowly crawling around the Spanish to get to the capital building. The Spanish thought the whole Swiss army was arriving, and knew they didn’t stand a chance against an army ten times their size. The lead a tactical retreat, trying to slowly make their way to the cover of the forest. In between them and the forest was a lot of chard rubble and ash... and the capital building. As they tried to make their way around the capital building the Bavarians opened fire from their position, secure a defended in the capital building, while firing onto the Spanish, who were in an open field of burned buildings and musketshots coming at them from two sides. The Spanish army broke and routed into the trees. By the time the Swiss army got there, the battle was over. Kuhn have up his military power immediately afterwards and was praised for his victory. The country, previously known as New Switzerland, was renamed Hurliherzistan. The two major diasporas living in the area were the German militants, mostly upper and lower class, and the Swiss bankers, mostly middle class. The German militants were known as the Herz’s, for the German word meaning heart, for bravery and valor. The Swiss bankers were known as Hürlimann’s, for the popular Swiss banker who moved their and created the economic systems still in place today, Conrad Hürlimann. The combination of these terms, and the central Asian word for land created the term Hurliherzistan. In the peace treaty for the war, the Spanish recognized Switzerland as the rightful controller of the Bay Area, and Hurliherzistan as Switzerland’s official colony of the area. The Spanish also paid the Swiss a large sum of silver and passage for half of the Swiss troops to return to Switzerland. The large quantity of Spanish prisoners of war were released back to Spain. Hurliherzistan’s economy began to grow and, even though the capital would start to rebuild, it would never be the same. At this time, Herbert Outpost was built near the capital building to see incoming attacks and grant a tactical vantage point during battle. This wooden structure was built on posts into a tree, and had only one entrance point, from below. A tunnel between the capital building and Herbert Outpost began construction in 1772, however progress stalled when the First Colonial War started. The largest increase would be around the Fortress of Konrad. The fortress itself was rebuilt stronger than ever, and a village started to be built around it. The village grew until it had over twenty thousand people living in it. During this time it was named Wachsende-Festungsstadt. A large portion of the people were Spanish peasants who moved to find a better life. They did most of the hard labor and held the backbone of the economy and production of Hurliherzistan for the next two years. By the time the First Colonial War started, over two thirds of the city was Spanish. Right before the war, in an attempt to smooth the tensions between the Spanish and the Swiss living in Hurliherzistan, the government renamed the city from Wachsende-Festungsstadt to San Francisco, the popular Spanish name for the city. This did not have the desired effect, and to the Spanish, this was just showing that it was rightfully Spain's.
The Hurliherzistani government baracaded themselves in New Zurich, while Wilhelm Kuhn (see the Early Colonial section) prepared for a final defense of the fortress. The Spanish turned their forces on the fortress first, knowing that that is where most of the resistance would be. As the Spanish settled in for a siege of the fortress, a siege they thought would be short, the Swiss army was on the move. Many years ago, when Frederick Becker (see the Early Colonial section) first realized that the Bavarians who outnumbering the Swiss in the military, he had called for a contingent of the Swiss military to come and protect their colony. The Swiss had said that they could not help at the moment, and they also did not have the navy to transport a useful amount of troops to the New World. Becker had decided he could not count on their help, and had planned for other options. But, his plan failed, and the Ohlone didn’t win. Now, Kuhn, Becker, and all of their allies in the New World would be killed. However, the Swiss finally came through. After the Swiss army was hired by the French to crush the British invaders in the Seven Years War, the French did not have the money to pay the Swiss, so they paid what they could and owed the Swiss a favor. The Swiss has heard about Spanish troops massing in Monterey, and knew they had to act quickly. The called in their favor with the French and transported a large contingent, over 20% of their army, across the Atlantic. They went around Cape Horn to avoid detection, and secretly disembarkered in Monterey. The Spanish were winning the siege, they had not bought a navy, and were therefore not able to deal with the two Swiss-German boats in the are. The only reason the Fortress of Konrad survived was on food and materials brought from the northern bay, collected by the crew, and shipped down to the fortress. It had been three weeks, of the original 256 soldiers defending the fortress, only 122 remained. The Swiss relief force sent a contingent to sneak by the Spanish and get into New Zurich.
October 24:
21:00 - Swiss relief contingency is sent to infiltrate the Spanish lines and sneak into New Zurich.
23:00 - Swiss relief contingency gets a meeting with Becker.
October 25:
00:00 - Plans are drafted and the contingency force is sent back to get their general and command staff.
01:00 - The general and command staff arrive.
04:00 - Plans are finalized and the general and his staff go back to the main force, leaving a 128 man contingent behind to defend New Zurich, just in case.
06:00 - The army is briefed and ready to attack.
Sunrise - The attack begins.
The Swiss army slowly closed in on the Spanish, who were all clumped at the tip of the peninsula, besieging the fort. The Swiss catch the Spanish off guard, facing the wrong way, and with their backs to the water. It was a massacre, 5,000 elite Swiss soldiers agains around 1,500 Spanish recruits. The Swiss took minimal casualties, while the Spanish took 99% casualties. During the battle, Becker took a boat to see Kuhn. Becker is accompanied by 64 veteran Swiss soldiers. With all his men guarding the walls, Kuhn has 24 Bavarian loyalists with him. The negotiations quickly turns into a possible firefight, as both sides points guns at the other. Becker asks Kuhn why he shouldn’t just shoot Kuhn right there and then for treason. Kuhn surrenders. On the front lines, the Swiss have just about won, and are finishing of the last pockets of Spanish troops. However, what they don’t know is that the Spanish had requested reinforcements from the from the three month old city of San Diego. These reinforments were only about 500 strong, and were mainly to being siege equipment, but also a small naval force of four light warships and one ship-of-the-line was sent to block resources brought by boat. The Spanish reinforcements saw what was happening, and attacked New Zurich. With the token force sent to garrison the city halved, due to Becker’s expidition, the city didn’t stand a chance. The 64 men put up a staunch defense, but it wasn’t enough. Most of the troops died at the walls, but citizens and soldiers alike fought from house to house, making it extremely difficult to take the city. Eventually, the Spanish set fire to multiple buildings around the perimeter. Citizens rushed to get water, but by the time they had put out the fire, only some buildings in the center of the city, like the capital building, survived. The Spanish pressed their advantage, but Becker was on his way back. He saw the smoke in the distance and new, at least partially, what was happening. He didn’t have anyone to spare, and had very little military experience himself, so he looked to Kuhn. He allowed Kuhn’s men to be given their weapons back and Kuhn to lead the totalled 88 strong seasoned battalion into New Zurich, while Becker rode to the main army to let them know what was happening. By the time Kuhn got there, it was a massacre. Spanish troops murdering anyone they saw not dressed in a Spanish army uniform. Kuhn, the brilliant general that he was, ordered the Swiss to troops to start firing on the Spanish, and divert their attention from the civilians. The Spanish went on the offensive and Kuhn got his men behind cover. During this time, the 24 Bavarians were slowly crawling around the Spanish to get to the capital building. The Spanish thought the whole Swiss army was arriving, and knew they didn’t stand a chance against an army ten times their size. The lead a tactical retreat, trying to slowly make their way to the cover of the forest. In between them and the forest was a lot of chard rubble and ash... and the capital building. As they tried to make their way around the capital building the Bavarians opened fire from their position, secure a defended in the capital building, while firing onto the Spanish, who were in an open field of burned buildings and musketshots coming at them from two sides. The Spanish army broke and routed into the trees. By the time the Swiss army got there, the battle was over. Kuhn have up his military power immediately afterwards and was praised for his victory. The country, previously known as New Switzerland, was renamed Hurliherzistan. The two major diasporas living in the area were the German militants, mostly upper and lower class, and the Swiss bankers, mostly middle class. The German militants were known as the Herz’s, for the German word meaning heart, for bravery and valor. The Swiss bankers were known as Hürlimann’s, for the popular Swiss banker who moved their and created the economic systems still in place today, Conrad Hürlimann. The combination of these terms, and the central Asian word for land created the term Hurliherzistan. In the peace treaty for the war, the Spanish recognized Switzerland as the rightful controller of the Bay Area, and Hurliherzistan as Switzerland’s official colony of the area. The Spanish also paid the Swiss a large sum of silver and passage for half of the Swiss troops to return to Switzerland. The large quantity of Spanish prisoners of war were released back to Spain. Hurliherzistan’s economy began to grow and, even though the capital would start to rebuild, it would never be the same. At this time, Herbert Outpost was built near the capital building to see incoming attacks and grant a tactical vantage point during battle. This wooden structure was built on posts into a tree, and had only one entrance point, from below. A tunnel between the capital building and Herbert Outpost began construction in 1772, however progress stalled when the First Colonial War started. The largest increase would be around the Fortress of Konrad. The fortress itself was rebuilt stronger than ever, and a village started to be built around it. The village grew until it had over twenty thousand people living in it. During this time it was named Wachsende-Festungsstadt. A large portion of the people were Spanish peasants who moved to find a better life. They did most of the hard labor and held the backbone of the economy and production of Hurliherzistan for the next two years. By the time the First Colonial War started, over two thirds of the city was Spanish. Right before the war, in an attempt to smooth the tensions between the Spanish and the Swiss living in Hurliherzistan, the government renamed the city from Wachsende-Festungsstadt to San Francisco, the popular Spanish name for the city. This did not have the desired effect, and to the Spanish, this was just showing that it was rightfully Spain's.