Georgia: Against All Odds III
"Your Majesty, I beg you to reconsider!"
"No time for that now." King Giorgi VII didn't even look back as he strode from the palace.
"But, Your Majesty, the risk! Our lands will be overrun by heathens, our people will be slaughtered! You can not do this!"
Giorgi turned back around on his heel. "You will not tell me what I can and can not do." Giorgi gestured off towards the parade ground where the entire army stood at attention to the sound of a single drummer. "That sound you hear is the sound of destiny, the sound of glory. The sons of the Khan stand alone. None will come to their aid. The time to attack is now. We can not fail."
He stood for one long moment to see if any response would be attempted. Then he turned and strode off towards his waiting men.
~~~~~~~~~~
Our nation was going to war. The king would later claim that he attacked the Golden Horde as a symbol of vengeance for the fall of Constantinople, but we didn't actually receive news of that until the king had already left with the army for Alania. I believe he was justifying himself. It was his own glory he wanted. He intended to lead this army personally.
Before he left, the king sent out the orders that would quickly prepare our country for war. The mints began working full time to provide as much coin as possible to provide all that the military would need. I warned the king about the inflation that would result, but he shook it off as a minor matter. He was correct that the money would be needed, but I was very concerned about the long term effects on the economy.
Short-term gain, but long term problems
In order to raise manpower more quickly, the king obtained contracts with a number of mercenary forces. By the time he reached Alania, a thousand hired men on horseback would be waiting for him. To guard the border in Circassia, 2,000 men would be hired there, with another thousand hired in the capital with orders to join them as quickly as possible. Having already given the orders that would more than double the army, it was obvious that future funds would quickly be used to pay for more men and more supplies.
The plan was to declare war soon after the army reached Alania. The army would move into Astrakhan, home to a valuable center of trade. The mercenaries would hold the borders against incursions by the Golden Horde, while additional troops would reinforce either the army or the border as they became available. The king planned to seize as many of the provinces from the Horde as he could, but at the very least he desired Astrakhan.
The plan of attack - note the enemy troops guarding the capital at Sarai
The king was optimistic.
...as always.
Comments
Re: Georgia: Against All Odds III
I'm no economist, but if they have a gold standad and are just minting from their supply of gold, it draws down their reserves, but does it really result in inflation? I thought inflation was the result of reduced real value of the currency causing less buying power per currenmcy unit.
"In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.[1] When the price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation is also an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a loss of real value in the internal medium of exchange and unit of account in the economy."
Re: Georgia: Against All Odds III
If you inject extra money into the economy (by minting additional coins), then the per capita wealth will (by definition) go up. When wealth goes up, prices tend to go up. Today inflation is frequently controlled by adjusting interest rates. As I understand it (also not an economist), decreasing interest rates causes people to be more likely to spend money instead of saving it. This effectively puts money back into the economy. The overall effect (on interest rate at least) is similar to minting more money. Now, from what I understand, adjusting the minting rate above or below the replacement rate (bills in particular get worn and need to be replace) can cause other side effects that make this a more undesireable tactic today.
Re: Georgia: Against All Odds III
I did think inflation would be considered a modern term but I looked up this history and found it used there as well. The United States was "on the gold standard" until well into our life time. This meant that money printed had to be only representative of how much gold was in storage. All bills used to say that they could be turned in for an equal value of gold or some such stuff like that. Then they started printing a few more bills than actually were held in the vault. This was at Fort Knox, Kentucky. But eventually the government said, phoey on that and "sold" all the gold. That meant the money was "backed" up by nothing and thus comes the problem of regulating how much is in circulation and defining what exactly it's value might be. Some times in the past the valuable metal was what the coin was minted out of and therefore one could only mint exactly what suppies were on hand and the value stayed consistent. However, the following is an exerpt from a book on the history of money and it relates the problems excountered exactly in the century in which this game is taking place. It is pretty interesting.
http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/RDavies/arian/amser/chrono6.html
Based on the book: A History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day by Glyn Davies, rev. ed. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1996. 716p. ISBN 0 7083 1351 5. (Page numbers in the 3rd edition published in 2002 may be slightly different).
1452-1519
Life of Leonardo da Vinci
Among Leonardo's drawings are designs for a press to produce more uniform coins quickly using a water driven mill. This innovation is widely adopted and the new money is termed milled money. p 178-179
1500-1540
Huge supplies of New World gold reach Spain
On average between 1,000 and 1,500 kg. of gold reach Spain each year during this period. Initially these supplies are obtained by plunder, especially from the Aztecs and Incas, and later by applying new mining methods to the New World gold deposits. p 176,186-187
1504
Henry VII issues shilling coins
Up to this time the English shilling has simply been a unit of account. p 191
1519-1521
Cortés conquers Mexico
Before the arrival of the Spaniards the Aztecs and Mayas used gold dust (kept in transparent quills) and cocoa beans (kept for large payments in sacks of 24,000) as money. p 47
1519
Minting of Thalers begins in Joachimsthal in Bohemia
This coin made from locally-mined silver is known as the Joachimsthaler, or thaler for short, from its place of origin, and is widely imitated. The Anglicised form of the name, dollar, is later used for the Spanish peso and the Portuguese eight-real piece which circulate widely in North America both before and after the United States gains its independence. p 459
1526
Nicholas Copernicus writes his Treatise on Debasement
With many provinces of his native Poland, and other parts of Europe, suffering from debasement the great astronomer argues that it is the total number of coins in circulation, rather than the weight of metal they contain, that determines the level of prices and the buying power of the currency. p 230
1532
Pizarro lands in Peru and begins the conquest of the Incas
The Incas were unique in reaching a high degree of civilization without the use of money even though they possessed huge amounts of gold and silver. The more rigid a state's planning system the less the need for money. p 47
1534-1540
Dissolution of the Monasteries
Henry VIII seizes control of the property of the monasteries, partly to promote the Reformation in England but mainly because of his need to find money for the defence of the realm. p 193-194
1540-1640
The Price Revolution in Europe
Europe, including Britain, experiences a prolonged period of inflation, partly because of the huge influx of gold and silver from the Spanish colonies in America and partly because the increase in population is not matched by an increase in the output of the economy. Compared with many earlier and later inflations this hardly deserves being described as a revolution. p 211-217
1542-1551
The Great Debasement
Henry VIII debases the coinage of England as a means of raising revenue. In Ireland the debasement started earlier, in 1536, and does not finish until 1560. p 197-202
1560
Elizabeth I begins the reform of England's debased coinage
This is a first step towards the complete replacement of the debased coinage she inherited from her predecessors. Thomas Gresham, after whom Gresham's law ("bad money drives out good") is named, is an influential adviser. The debased coins are recalled and melted down and the base and precious metals separated. The recoinage programme is completed in 1561. p 202-206