Siege of Milan

The **Siege of Milan** was a siege laid over the city of Milan by the Bulgarian Kingdom. The siege lasted nearly five hours (two weeks in-game) and was one of several major engagements that composed the Italian-Bulgaria war, which was fought back and forth without any gains in territory nor victories prior to the Siege of Milan. The Siege of Milan was waged in response to the first battle of the Italian-Bulgaria war in which Italian forces had unsuccessfully tried to destroy the capital city of Bulgaria, which was Varna.

## Background

The Italian Empire and the Bulgarian Kingdom were essentially the two most powerful entities in Southern Europe. In the words of the Crimean Khanate RememberTomorrow, "They were the two toughest kids on the block, I suppose. They had to fight it out one of these days." Surely, the fight started at the very hour that the server's grace period (implemented to disable war so that nations can strengthen themselves before any conflict) and the Italian Empire had taken the initiative to strike first at the city of Varna.

The Italians gathered several pieces of artillery to penetrate the city's defenses, accompanied with many soldiers who had surrounded the city. Fortunately for the Bulgarians, the Italian batteries were too inexperienced to properly aim the cannons and only few landed within the walls of Varna. Shortly after they had came, the Italian soldiers had to retreat to Varna after suffering many casualties. The Bulgarian strategists figured that the Italians would be insufficient in resources to fight, and likewise unable to defend. It is also at this point that the Crimean Khanate joined the Bulgarian Kingdom in a coalition effort, though most will believe that the Khanate was simply unoccupied.

The Bulgarian soldiers collected in Varna to equip weapons and armor, while waiting for more Italians to appear so that they could besiege their city. The soldiers advanced to Milan on horseback anticipating Milan's resistance to be as weak as they expected, but upon their arrival to Milan were thoroughly disgusted by the layout of Milan which was composed of towering cobblestone fortifications and an overgrown tree which was used as a watchtower.

## Battle

The Italian defense was made aware of the Bulgarians' presence as they started to invade the outskirts of the city, and gathered at their East wall with rifles to fire at the Bulgarians. However, the Bulgarians were waiting with their rifles carefully aimed at the top of the wall and the first line of Milan's defense were quickly slain with several volleys of ammunition. The Bulgarian soldiers constructed a hut to take cover from gunfire and artillery, as well as to cover their annexation flag from being dismantled by charging defenders.

Milan's garrison quickly realized that they could not drive back the Bulgarian attackers from above, and so reverted to ancient war tactic of making every able-bodied resident of Milan leap off their wall towards the hut with shoddy axes to wear away at the Bulgarians in coordinated waves. The Bulgarian soldiers dispatched most of Milan's countering civilians, but nonetheless this effort was starting to deteriorate the state of Bulgaria's soldiers. Bulgaria's Royal Guard was also killed by a particular civilian who had the ability to strike from multiple directions far from the length of his sword, and the civilian was banished by the powers that be from this mortal coil for using witchcraft.

The Bulgarians returned to Varna to recuperate, having eaten their meals and loading their rifles. Bulgaria's strategists considered the fact that they had underestimated Milan's resistance, and to avoid being attacked by their belligerent civilians, the Bulgarian soldiers planned to meet up on the side of a mountain facing Milan while slowly approaching the city. In Milan, the Italian defenders were learning how to use their cannons as they were prepared for a second assault from the Bulgarians. As such, when the Bulgarian army collected at the mountain and built huts along the way, Italian artillery were properly aimed at them and struck with competent accuracy. The Bulgarian soldiers were still able to push against the walls of Milan but were suffering wounds from shelling, and when Milan's residents again threw themselves off the walls into the Bulgarians, they were significantly more vulnerable. Nearing the end of the siege (which perhaps ended for this very reason), Milan's civilians were arming themselves with swords and started to ambush the Bulgarian soldiers in a convoluted rendition of guerrilla warfare. Soon afterwards, the Bulgarian soldiers were defeated by Milan's resistance. The citizens of Milan, despite having most of their men killed, were joyous in their victory of the Bulgarian attackers and made their victory screech audible throughout Europe.

## Aftermath

The Bulgarian army admit defeat and made a retreat to Varna once more. However, the Italian Empire and the Bulgarian Kingdom both declared that they had merely overcome one of many battles of a war, and were both determined to wage an eventual victory which would only be achieved by one or the other. The Bulgarians and Italians have yet to retaliate towards each other, and the Italian-Bulgaria war has yet to reach a conclusion.

The Bulgarian soldiers were more than sufficiently prepared to destroy a target as weak as they had first expected of Milan, and marched to the city with piles of food and materials hoping to outlast the Italians in their siege. The Bulgarians were further anticipating victory as they gunned down the Italian marksmen at the walls. Unfortunately, they had encountered the asymmetrical warfare committed by Milan's very citizens, who had voluntarily leaped off walls to engage the soldiers foaming at the mouth. The strategy behind such a move by the Italians was that charging their civilians at the Bulgarians would almost always cause the attackers to lose their resources in one quantity or another, and that they could easily sustain it with cheap equipment and unlimited amounts of zealotry. As accordingly to the idea behind such a plan, the Bulgarian forces wasted too many of their resources to continue the siege, and subsequently withdrew from battle.