And it’s not like the people there are not both stubborn and adept at using all the advantages of that terrain…
And later also with Spanish and Teutons (Dutch) during the colonial times.
and fought them in Spain and thus forming the Spanish civ the actual first spanish christian kingdom before it split into three.
Didnt Charlemagne fought the alans in Austria?
The Dutch are covered by the Burgundians in AOE2. Overall they are the part of Middle Francia north of the Alps.
Yes I didn’t write every interaction with civs, just the most striking facts that came to my mind first. But to be fair about that, the Kingdom of Asturias survived the moorish onslaught, which also reached Southern Gaul, notably Septimania (now Languedoc), all this land had to be retaken after Charles Martel stopped the Muslims at Tours/Poitiers. So by the time the Spanish March was founded by Charlemagne IIRC, the Goths had been entirely knocked out from Spain, with Asturias that can be considered evolved into the Spanish.
Asturias would split into Galicia (itself would start Portugal) Leon and Castile, that over time would consolidate around Castile, while the Spanish March would start Aragon and Catalunya, consolidating into Aragon. Not sure which of the 2 started Navarra.
He did. I believe some also had settled in some parts of Gaul during the Invasions and were at the Battle of Chalons too, so the Alans were met there too.
But I only counted realms that are for sure from that civ, not ones where the civ is used as a placeholder. And Magyars wouldn’t arrive there until quite a bit later.
I don’t agree. As a citizen of Utrecht i say we are Teutons.
This is a long discussion. But the low countries were basically divided between France-Burgundy and above the Rhine it was mostly Holy Roman Empire, except the County of Holland that sided with Burgundy.
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The HRE is not only Teutons, it notably included Bohemia and northern Italy. Teutons are the german-speaking core of the HRE, + some offshoots like the Teutonic Order.
Likewise, in large part for gameplay reason (strong citizen militias), I’d say the Swiss are covered by the Burgundians, or at least this is a good placeholder.
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Swiss fought them time and time again so I dont think they are the best fit for them.
From the ingame perspective byzantines might be the one most connected with everybody else after mongols.
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They mainly had a 3-years-war that saw the demise of Charles the Bold. Didn’t try to grab Switzerland otherwise. But besides the close geography, the main reason I’d use Burgundians as a placeholder is the Flemish Revolution UT, the people taking up arms to form a potent infantry, not exactly Swiss pikemen but close enough.
Yes they rank very high.
I’d also expect the Portuguese to be quite high as they went all the way to Japan.
Historically wont celts be the closest to swiss as the original helvertian tribes were celtic people.
The same argument could be made for the Franks, whose most of the population remained Gallo-Romance (funnily enough Greeks still call us “Gauls” to this day). The only Celtic areas left by the time of AOE2 were Britanny and many parts of the British Isles (Scotland Ireland…). The name Bohemia also comes from the Boii, a Celtic tribe.
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Teutonic Order still recides in Utrecht, the Netherlands 
Yup, except it’s a bunch of peace-loving nuns now. I can’t say that’s not a downgrade…
*Polish, Lithuanians and Old Prussian people
Are we a joke to you?
The Teutonic Order went crazy later on, which is typical of any human organization, but it started out fairly strong and stable. It just lost its purpose after a while, and became like any other military organization.
I don’t think anyone’s done Saracens yet, so here we go. (Interactions listed are not exhaustive, obviously.)
- Armenians – fought Cilician Armenia during Mongol invasions
- Bengalis – Abbasid Caliphate traded with the Pala Empire
- Berbers – various interactions in North Africa and Iberia
- Britons – Crusades
- Bulgarians – Abbasid Caliphate sent an embassy to Volga Bulgaria in the 10th century
- Burgundians – fought in the Reconquista (and probably the Crusades)
- Byzantines – constant interaction throughout the Middle Ages
- Celts – Crusades (Scottish knights joined the Knights Templar)
- Chinese – Rashidun Caliphate sent an embassy to the Tang Dynasty in 651
- Cumans – Mamluks were often Cumans/Kipchaks
- Dravidians – trade between Arabia and South India
- Ethiopians – Aksumite Empire invaded Arabia
- Franks – Crusades
- Georgians – fought during Mongol invasions
- Goths – various interactions with the Visigoths in Iberia
- Gurjaras – Umayyad Caliphate fought Gurjara-Pratihara Dynasty
- Hindustanis – Abbasid Caliphate had trade and diplomatic relations with (at least) Ghaznavaid and Ghurid Dynasties
- Huns – fought the Hephthalites and Nezak Huns during the conquest of the Sasanian Empire
- Italians – Crusades
- Magyars – Crusades
- Malay – Islam was brought to Sumatra and the Malay peninsula by Arab (and Indian) traders
- Malians – trade and diplomatic relations
- Mongols – fought during Mongol invasions
- Persians – conquered Sasanian Empire
- Portuguese – Reconquista
- Sicilians – Crusades; fought in Sicily
- Slavs – ambassadors at the Abbasid embassy in Volga Bulgaria encountered the Rus’
- Spanish – Reconquista
- Tatars – fought Timur in the Levant
- Teutons – Crusades
- Turks – various interactions throughout the Middle Ages
Some slightly iffy ones:
- Bohemian knights probably fought in the Crusades as part of the Holy Roman Empire.
- Poles – there’s a book called ‘The Forgotten Crusaders’ about Poland’s involvement in the crusades, but I couldn’t find any further information.
- Romans – parts of Arabia were included in the Roman Empire and later reconquered by Arabs – but they probably counts as “Byzantine” by this time.
- Vikings – evidence of trade and Arab accounts of Vikings – but the distinction between Vikings and Rus’ is unclear in Arab accounts.
- Given the links with Malay, it’s possible they traded with other people in South East Asia as well.
I’m not expert, so happy to accept any additions or corrections.
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Yes. A Burgundian knight led an army against the Mamluks during the Crusades. The whole kingdom’s military went to the Black Sea area to help Poland and Hungary (led by the eldest son of Jogaila), but the knight stayed out of the conflict and instead engaged in piracy in the southern coast of the Black Sea. He eventually advanced on to the eastern coast and prepared to pirate Georgia as well, ignoring Trebizond’s warning that the Georgians were Christian. However, a group of Greeks warned the Georgians ahead of time, and they ambushed the Burgundians as soon as they landed. This happened in the area of Batumi, a beach city and the second largest overall in Georgia nowadays.
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I do remember reading something on the Western Romans coming into conflict with Arabs.
Romans in AOE2 are indeed the Western Empire and the successor states, notably Syagrius’ Kingdom in Gaul (knocked out 10 years after). Maybe you could count Gwynedd, a part of Roman Britannia in northern Wales that only got conquered by Edward Longshanks, but they do not cover the Eastern Empire that are the Byzantines.
Looks like the Saracens are the champions here.
A huge presence at the middle of the Old World (including access to the Med Sea, Indian Ocean and Silk Road), and while not in Europe proper, got quite a bit of attention from European civs due to holding some obscure city in the Levant some may have heard about…
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Muisca is the perfect link between Central/South America, meaning even preIberian civs like Toltecs and Chimu can count on interactions even if less war and more trade