14 DAY TRIAL // I should have known that trouble was coming by simply looking at the names on the map, where the familiar Castile and Aragon was long ago replaced by Spain, all of it covering a rather prosperous yellow blob.
No modern nation has all its territory when Europa Universalis IV starts in 1444, but all of them have decisions, mostly based on province control, to change their names at some point.
The fact that Spain managed to do it was a sign that the country was unified, had solid resources to draw upon and its position meant that it could only realistically expand in two directions: north across the Pyrenees and into France or south towards North Africa.
I foolishly believed that I was safe because I had upgraded my relations with Spain a few decades before but clearly they had other plans and their invasion proved very well designed.
I augmented my armies with some mercenaries and tried to stop them as soon as they crossed the border but they combined two 20-unit stacks and defeated my own forces rather easily.
I regrouped, I recruited some mercenaries and then stationed my armies in Ile de France, ready to launch a counteroffensive.
By that time, Spain had brought allies, Portugal and Aragon (yup, they still exist but only have two provinces), and I was outnumbered.
Eventually both my armies got crushed and I was forced to settle for peace, which involved giving one province to the Spanish invaders and letting some of my vassals go independent.
Europa Universalis IV allows a player to recover from such a defeat, especially when playing France, but Brittany saw their chance and decided to attack me in order to gain territory.
This is a sign that I need to be a little more careful and it persuaded me to pursue my earlier idea of seeing how Burgundy can fare at the start of the game.