Weltpolitik and Realpolitik (WaR) - Game Thread

[mrrandomplayer]

Attack Portugal. They're much weaker than Austria and less likely to get help.

 

[Robert Can't]

The D'Poggios also agree, Portugal is a much more interesting target for us right now.

 

[Neverwonagame3]

The Nationalists will reluctantly support this. Taking Marsallies is the cautious option, and technically speaking a just one.

 

[Tani Coyote]

It is decided, then; Italy shall strike first against Portugal to take the south of France as well as their African colonies. If we get ahold of mainland Portugal so much the better.

Once the Portuguese War is wrapped up we may then focus on Germany and Austria, who we will be more of a match for with assistance from our African colonies.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Orders lock in 46 hours.

Or sooner, provided I get them all early. We've only four players so that should make things simpler.

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

Invest in Infrastructure and Raw materials, make use of Deitrich.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Orders locked!

Time to show Portugal what Italy can bring to bear.

 

[Tani Coyote]

It has taken more than a decade, but Trieste will soon be ours. With the European front soon to be closed, we shall be poised to make a move to crush the German Alliance at long last and secure Italy's dominance on the European continent.

===State of the Kingdom XI: 1906 (Covers 1905) ===

Map
Stats Sheet

New Characters

Marcello Amero D’Aste has, after a career of notable service in the French War, been promoted to the rank of General. He is now available for purchase – the starting bid is 500 gold. Seems pricey, but the demand for Governors is high and the supply quite low. That’s the free market!

Armando Diaz has made himself known among the ranks of the Col. Dev. League.

National Politics

Spoiler :

The Trevisan Family has come incredibly close to dominating the city politics of Rome, while Asmara remains a hotbed of competition amid the fall of the Asmara Governorate.

Foreign and Military Affairs

Spoiler :

The assignments are as follows:

General de Vetis has been withdrawn from combat so as to govern Khartoum.

General Dietrich has been given the privilege of taking Paris, whereas d’Montmorency will be tasked with seizing Brest. Once all obligations to Portugal are up, General Donati will seize Marseilles. For a time General Belloni will be alone in attacking Portuguese Africa.

Week 9, we launch our first assault on Paris with a Corps, killing a Machinegunner and 2 Col. Infantry. It is not a crushing victory, but it does do a great deal to weaken the defenses and make every piece of Italian artillery more effective.

Week 13, the Chinese Empire seizes Hue, ending the French overseas empire.

Meanwhile we strike at Paris again, killing 2 French Infantry.

Week 17, the alliances against France expire. Rather than make peace and have our boys sit idle, however, we continue to press the attack on Paris, as we have several months before Portugal will be ready for an invasion.

Our latest strike against Paris is devastating, wiping out City Guards and Machinegunners without mercy; two of our own Infantry divisions are lost to defeat them. We then cut through some of the finest French Infantry, who have been left extremely vulnerable thanks to artillery attacks. In total, 9 French Infantry divisions are destroyed.



The battle is one of the bloodiest Italy has ever fought, but signals Italy’s growing military power, with what was once of the greatest capitals of Europe having been occupied. The French government retreat to the fringes of Brittany, which is all they have left. Rather than allow them to breathe, the order is given to push onward and avenge all the fallen at Paris, and to destroy the Third Republic once and for all.

Week 21, the Col. Military Academy is founded in Khartoum, thus allowing for better-trained units.

General Dietrich sits back and watches over Paris while D’Poggio-Montmorency strikes at Brest. 5 French Infantry and 1 Cavalry perish…



And the city is ours! A Corps is formed from the battle, thus granting us greater power in Europe.

The Paris Convention, dominated by Germany, Italy and Britain, formally ends the war. The French government established by the Convention takes the form of a constitutional monarchy with Victor Emmanuel III as the King of France, but he exercises no political authority and the overall framework of the Third Republic remains intact barring the monarchic trappings (and of course, a prevalence of Italian “advisors”). This new government enjoys the recognition of the Germans and British in exchange for concessions, with the German and British spheres of influence in a formally-united France being confirmed. The French government formally signs over all its colonial territories, while also agreeing to allow foreign policy to be “reviewed” by Rome.

With the end of the French Republic and its threat to Italy, Italy emerges as one of the clear great powers of Europe, alongside Britain, Russia and the German bloc. We decide to preside over several months of peace and rebuilding as we work to get France into a more productive state, all in preparation for our showdown with the Portuguese.

Week 37, the British ask for an alliance against Portugal; we decline for the time being.

Week 33, Spain declares war on Britain.

Week 49, as we ready for our first strike on Portugal, the British declare war on the Americans.

General Dietrich attacks heavily-guarded (20+ divisions) Bissau in West Africa. A large portion of the Portuguese fleet is within the city’s harbors, thus making the attack quite lucrative. We kill 3 of the local Infantry and decide to await reinforcements.



Far to the southeast, General Belloni strikes at Mozambique. His forces destroy 7 Infantry and lose 1 Cavalry. His conquest of Tete brings much glory to his faction, as the entirety of Italian Africa now has access to steel for railways. No sooner does Belloni seize the city that he marches southward to try and seize the city of Chiveve so as to establish a coastal supply line.



Chiveve sees the massacre of 7 Portuguese divisions. Portugal’s grip on Mozambique has crumbled in a matter of weeks.

Back in Europe, General Donati is tasked with taking Marseilles, which will bring Portuguese France under Italian control and by extension, Nice and Savoy.



Marseilles is heavily-defended, the result of Portugal deploying huge amounts of manpower to the area to quell uprisings. Regardless, Donati crushes 4 machinegunner positions, before wiping the floor with 18 Infantry divisions and seizing the city.

With the expulsion of Portugal from France and the conquest of northern Mozambique, all objectives are satisfied; attempts are made to broker a peace with Portugal but they refuse to talk. While there is a desire to avoid a binding conflict, it is a given that Portugal will inevitably seek out allies; we preemptively recruit Spain, the Boers, the Dutch, and Chinese as allies to bring about the fall of their empires abroad in the latter three’s case and to serve as a meat shield in the former. We deliberately leave the German Alliance out of the War; if the Portuguese recruit them it will save us the effort of declaring war on them ourselves. We will be declaring war on the German Alliance in four months anyway, by which time we shall have surely already defeated the Portuguese in Europe.

Week 1 of 1906, the Boers seize two Portuguese cities, while over in Europe the British seize control of northeastern Spain.



Dietrich launches another assault on Bissau, killing 7 Portuguese Infantry. The Portuguese had withdrawn most of their fleet by the time Dietrich’s army marches into the city, but the elimination of Portugal from West Africa leaves them with but a small scrap of Angola; plans can be made to invade the Portuguese Atlantic islands.



General Donati storms into northern Portugal, seizing one small town after another before he arrives at Porto. He slays one machinegunner division as well as 10 Infantry in another great victory for Italy.

General Dietrich: +1 XP, +12 Prestige
General Belloni: +1 XP, +12 Prestige
General D'Poggio-Montmorency: +5 Prestige
General Donati: +1 XP, +16 Prestige

Domestic Developments

Spoiler :

Non-applicable. Nationalist territories have seen a dramatic increase in productivity, however.

 

[Neverwonagame3]

Won't bother with bidding. Focus entirely on Finance.

 

[Tani Coyote]

School's not as intense as thought, so I'll say orders lock in 24 hours.

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

Put Armando Diaz as Governor of Addis Ababa.

Invest in Infrastructure and Raw Materials.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Given how cumbersome it is to add new characters and the fact characters are in high demand for governance, I have removed the Governor requirement to direct production. Governors still benefit their town’s spy defense, though no one’s been using espionage so…

This game will probably wrap up in the coming week or two; don't be shy to take a look at my upcoming game, the Politics of Empire, which is another internal politics-themed game like this one.

===State of the Kingdom XII: 1907 (Covers 1906) ===

Map
Stats Sheet

New Characters

Not really relevant anymore!

National Politics

Spoiler :

The Trevisan Family has taken control of the local Roman government, giving it unprecedented clout in Italian politics.

The D’Poggios have asserted themselves as the dominant power in Asmara and Algiers, granting them large amounts of colonial wealth abroad.

Foreign and Military Affairs

Spoiler :

Week 5, America lands large amounts of troops in Africa. They may break the British hold on the continent after all! Russia, meanwhile, is humiliated by the Persians when it is forced to sign the east coast of the Caspian Sea over to them.



Meanwhile, General D’Poggio-Montmorency advances on Lisbon. He destroys 17 divisions and loses 1 Cavalry. With the defeat of mainland Portugal, the Portuguese menace is all but eliminated – all forces are fully able to regroup in preparation for the invasion of the German Alliance.

Week 9, we cancel our right of passage with Germany. After a few weeks’ preparation, we will begin a massive military operation to reunite France, with Trieste to be next once the French frontier is secured.

Week 13, Hispaniola declares war on the British Empire, while Germany declares war on Russia.

As if the Russo-German War did not come at a better time, we are finally ready to take Trieste for Italy after all these decades. First we goad the Germans into declaring their own French Kingdom in their rival territories, violating the terms of the Paris Convention and granting us a casus belli. A few artillery bombardments against Austria later, the Germans declare war on us.

While the German military is large, it is far from invincible, especially once we recruit a Coalition. For security, we draft the Spanish in the west. For a war of vengeance, we recruit the Dutch. Promising the neutralization of the Kriegsmarine for all time, we receive British help. The Balkan Alliance, ever foes of Austria, are all too eager to join our side.

Of utmost importance is the city of Limoges, which separates the northern and southern portions of France. Guarded by no less than 13 divisions, General Dietrich strikes at the city. One Cavalry is lost.

While the campaign wasn’t off to as good a start as expected (it was presumed German forces in France would be less numerous), it is clear that Italy can still gradually whittle away at the German Alliance’s cities. To prepare for a counterattack, forces to the east of Paris pull back into the city; any Germans who seize the area won’t attack the city.

Week 17, the Austrians kill 2 Maxim Guns with a single Cavalry, as well as 2 Civil Engineers. The latter are easily replaced thanks to our abundant African territories. They also sink 3 of our Torpedo Boats which were dangerously close to Trieste.

Germany, meanwhile, gets the Balkans to sign a military alliance against us. While this is an inconvenience, it amounts to little given the Balkans soon attack Austria and thus Germany declares war on them, leaving the Balkan Alliance at war with pretty much all of Europe.



Courtesy of the British, a good deal of damage has been done to the Austrian invasion forces across our territory. This has the side bonus of having spared Spain the wrath of the British hordes. With well over a dozen units in our territory, Austria is a force to be reckoned with – but we have artillery.

General Belloni, as a representative of the governing faction of Milan, is given the task of removing 8 Austrian Infantry and 7 Cavalry divisions in the northern peninsula. The attack is a huge success with no divisions lost; Austria is left with 50 Infantry and 7 Cavalry. It is thus a safe assumption most of their attack power has been taken away.

We also make an excursion into German territory to kill an Austrian military leader in the field; had he lived he would have given Austria a powerful Corps unit. Some Conscripts were sent on a suicide mission to do the deed; professional troops are too valuable to risk loss in a counterattack.

Week 21, Uruguay and Siam declare war on us. Germany launches an invasion of four Cavalry divsions, which Belloni once more disposes of with no losses. As Trieste looks fairly vulnerable and the French frontier is stable (if not reunited), General Donati is told to do his faction proud and seize the city.

Donati kills the Trieste City Guards and 4 Infantry, but does not have the manpower to take the city without huge losses. Even with his assault, no less than 22 ground divisions remain in the city.

Week 25, Belloni kills 3 German Cavalry. Further eastward, Donati kills 2 Austrian Infantry and 1 Cavalry.

Week 29, Belloni kills 2 German Cavalry.



Donati strikes Trieste for a third time, killing 9 Machingunners, 4 Cavalry, and 9 Infantry. TWO Corps emerge from the battle. The city’s fall grants us a direct route to Belgrade; the High Command plans to seize the city and force the Balkan Alliance to sue for peace.

With Austria having lost a quarter of their machinegunners, half their Cavalry, and one fifth of their Infantry in the defense of Trieste, they have been battered pretty badly by the war. The real deal breaker for Italy, however, is the fact the K.u.K. has been completely destroyed, thus granting it supremacy over the Adriatic and Central Mediterranean.

Week 33, Mexico declares war on the USA, while the Ottomans declare war on us. As the Turks are something of a threat to our African possessions, we recruit the British to fight them.



A neutral General seizes Benghazi, killing 4 Ottoman divisions to do so.

General Belloni does cleanup duty in Italy as usual, killing 2 Germans and 2 Austrians. He also disposes of the Austrian Trench Garrison, thus securing Trieste.



Once Belloni has cleared our territory of troops, he advances on Belgrade and kills its City Guard, 6 Machinegunners, and 10 Infantry.



With their clocks thoroughly cleaned, we make peace with the Balkans. The terms of peace are fairly generous, with a small indemnity; the Kingdom of Serbia, meanwhile, is transformed into a diarchy, with the north’s King being Victor Emmanuel III while King Peter I remains monarch of the southern portions. There is an extremely sneaky proviso in the treaty, however: should the Balkans make peace with either the Habsburgs or Turks within twenty months’ time, the peace accord will be void.

With the Balkan War ended, full focus can return to the German Alliance (now that the Balkans will absorb Ottoman attacks in Europe). Rather than return to the original goal of Nancy, however, the High Command has devised a far more devious scheme: a conquest of Vienna itself. Seizing the Austrian capital would plunge their empire into chaos and leave the rest much more easy to take.

Week 37, after routing some German intruders, Belloni and Donati team up for the march on Vienna.



9 Machinegunners, 1 City Guard, 4 Infantry, and 1 Cavalry division are all culled in the Habsburg capital; two Corps emerge in the battle! The conquest of Vienna throws the Dual Monarchy into disarray, with the royal family fleeing to Prague as they lose some of their wealthiest, most productive territory. Vienna’s seizure gives us a clear path to both Prague and Budapest.



More Turks are cut down in the Libyan desert, restricting them to Tripoli.

Week 41, Britain and Russia declare war on Japan.



We seize Tripoli with ease, gaining another Corps. The Ottoman threat in Africa is defeated once and for all.

General D’Poggio-Montmorency assaults Nancy back in Europe; it is reasoned that pushing further into Austria would create an extremely broad frontier that would difficult to defend. As such, the focus is to shift back to Germany.



5 Machinegunners and 3 Infantry are cut down to seize Nancy. With Nancy’s taking, only Paris and Nancy itself are open to attack, whereas it was Paris, Limoges, and Lyon beforehand; the taking of the city has made the frontier greatly more secure.

As part of that security, we purge several Austrian units from Trenches around the countryside. We also raid Budapest to kill off its City Guards so as to make sure it’s a softer target for a full-fledged assault.

Week 45, the Balkans make peace with Austria, voiding our treaty. They invade us with a petty force, but it will be swiftly purged; as the Balkan front has little of value at present, we will be focusing on Germany and Austria for the time being. In addition, the Balkan Alliance is also at war with the Turks, and we’re happy to let them continue killing each other before we invade.

To make the war in Europe more lucrative, we begin transporting our artillery pieces from Africa to Sicily, where they can join in on our European campaigns. Italy has no shortage of troops, but it lacks the artillery to maintain high-speed campaigns, sluggishly taking only one major city a month on average.

General Donati kills 4 Balkan divisions marching on Trieste as part of routine cleanup work.

Further west, General Dietrich is given full authorization to strike at Brussels, which is heavily-guarded but if conquered will allow the Dutch forces to link up with our armies. His charge kills 13 German Infantry, but the city holds strong. It is clear the Germans have defended the city quite well, and seeing troops around Amsterdam, it becomes apparent the German military has made the Lowlands the focus of their campaign. With only 56 Infantry remaining, however, the Germans are severely wounded by the first Battle of Brussels.

Week 49, after sinking a Siamese flotilla, Siam makes peace with us.



Dietrich renews his assault on Brussels, killing 8 Infantry and 2 Machinegunners, along with 4 conscripts. With that, Dietrich’s artillery are redeployed around France to destroy German naval vessels as well as a small invasion force near Brest; 3 German divisions are killed, while 5 Battleship flotillas are sent to the bottom.

Week 1, the British take Agades, uniting Africa from Cape to Cairo at last.



General Belloni assaults Prague. His forces destroy 3 Machinegunners, 2 Infantry, 2 Conscripts, 1 Cavalry, and 1 City Guard.



General Donati is then ordered to assault Budapest, which remains greatly weakened since earlier skirmishes against the city. 6 Machinegunners, 3 Infantry and 2 Conscripts are slain. The Austrians retreat to Troppau, their empire disintegrating further by the day. Without Budapest, the Habsburgs lack both Timber and Iron, depriving them of the raw materials they need to be militarily and economically independent. While this would legitimize a peace accord with them as they are in a perpetual state of dependence, the Government sees reason to press forward per its treaty obligations, and to dethrone the Austrian Emperor for good.



A neutral General massacres the Troppau forces days after the fall of Budapest, ending the last of the Austrian possessions. The end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire nears, though for now the War Ministry tells all forces to cease their advance so as to consolidate the Czech and Hungarian territories, which are already being prepared for transformation into independent realms (under Italian advisory, of course).

With the sheer speed with which we have destroyed the Austro-Hungarian territories, the Uruguayans, cohorts of Germany, agree to a peace treaty, paying an indemnity of 200 gold despite us never firing a shot at them. They are simply that terrified of the growing Italian Empire.



General Dietrich: +2 XP, +22 Prestige
General Belloni: +3 XP +27 Prestige
General D'Poggio-Montmorency: +2 XP, +14 Prestige
General Donati: +2 XP, +29 Prestige

To recap, we are at war with Austria-Hungary, the German Empire, the Balkans (on and off), Portugal, and the Ottomans. From an OOC perspective, it looks like World War I is more or less the same in this timeline, merely happening earlier.

Domestic Developments

Spoiler :

The Horn of Africa has been completely linked by railways, with large labor gangs being raised in the area so as to continue the industrialization of the Horn. This is particularly lucrative in the benefits it provides to both transportation and productivity; once Italian Africa is linked by rail, it will be realistically feasible to compete against the British militarily and economically overseas.

 

[Tani Coyote]

It is no secret that the Kingdom and its clients have become quite the force in Europe, with Italy having occupied most of Austria-Hungary, decimated German fleets and troops and ready to push towards the Rhine, and the Turko-Balkan threat rendered a non-issue between naval and land supremacy.

Italy is unable to make peace without destroying its reputation with Germany and Austria until the Fall of this 1907, and with that in mind, it only makes sense to press the advantage while we have it; destruction of the German Army could only benefit us in the long run in ensuring our security in Europe.

The Government's plan is thus a simple one: occupy the last free areas of Austria-Hungary, depose the House of Habsburg, carve Austria-Hungary into independent (theoretically) states aligned with Italy, and then make a push to seize as much of Germany as possible before our treaty obligations are up. Hitting the Germans while they are tied down with Russia is a prudent move indeed, lest they be able to direct their full force to the west and south.

Presumably we would leave the German coastline and Berlin free so as to leave Germany with basic industrial output; the German fleet would be especially useful when we eventually confront the British, the only power left who can really threaten our power both at home and overseas. It is thus likely we would merely strip them mostly of their southern territories while allowing much of the old lands of Prussia to remain under the Kaiserreich.

That leaves the Balkans and Ottomans. Italy is unified now, removing one of our national objectives; we have liberated Nice, Savoy, Trieste, Corsica, and avenged countless humiliations prior generations have suffered at the hands of Madrid, Paris, and Vienna. The war with the powers to our east thus presents an opportunity: the reclamation of lands once Italian. At their height the many Italian city-states had a great deal of clout in Greece, and it would only seem proper to restore these areas to our people. We could very well occupy the whole of the Balkans with our large, experienced, well-equipped forces, and then press on into Asia minor and the Near East, reclaiming the Holy Land for the West after all these centuries.

Securing our power over the eastern Mediterranean and the surrounding regions would go a long way to likewise prepare for a fight against the British, as we could stab them in the heart of their empire - India. With rule over most of Europe, a solid and growing economic base in Africa, and fresh conquests in Mesopotamia, the Levant and Arabia, we could stand to gain ground on Britain on multiple fronts... perhaps even storm the British Isles themselves and sink their fleet as if it were made of rubber ducks.

Let us above all consider Italy's need for land and resources, and how much more suitable the Mediterranean climates to our east would be for our people.

The Government opens the debate on the next course of action to L'Oligarchia. In particular, shall we vanquish the Balkan states and Turks to remove their liability forever, or make peace as soon as we are able?

His Majesty is a humble sort, but the Government also feels it may soon be appropriate to restyle him our Emperor rather than our King...

 

[Neverwonagame3]

Nationalists focus on denying the Trevisians a majority in Rome at all costs.

The Nationalists also support the government's plan.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Lock in 24 hours!

Winding down slowly...

 

[Tani Coyote]

Part I, you say? Why Part I? Because there’s so much to report I can’t fit it all in one post!

===State of the Kingdom XIII: 1908 (Covers 1907) Part I===

Partial Update so no Map
No Stats Yet as this is a partial update

National Politics

Spoiler :

TBA

Foreign and Military Affairs

Spoiler :

Week 5, we rejoice as the Spanish retake Huesca from the Brits, driving them from Iberia after a lengthy occupation of the northeast peninsula. The chaos has allowed us to secure a transfer of the coastline between France and Catalonia to our Catalan client state, securing our overland route to the region.

Desiring to dominate all of South Asia, the Turks declare war on Tibet, Siam, and Persia all in the same stroke at the behest of Japan.



General Belloni strikes at Lemberg, killing 3 units and 3 Conscripts.

Based on what forces are visible, the last vestige of Austrian power, Krakow, is predicted to have 5 Machinegunners, 7 Hungarian Infantry, and 4 Austrian Infantry, and various Conscripts guarding it. The city is well-defended, but we have no shortage of artillery.



General Donati is given the honor of taking Krakow, killing 4 of the Austrians’ finest units in his first wave, before making use of Cavalry charges to slice through 5 Infantry and 1 Conscripts. Donati is invested with a unique title for having dealt the fatal blow to the Habsburg Empire.

Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria was caught attempting to flee to Germany, as were the vast bulk of his imperial entourage. When a one-on-one meeting with Victor Emmanuel proved futile in convincing the stubborn Emperor to agree to unconditional terms, the Italian King turned the matter over to the Government. Lacking the royal camaraderie with the Emperor Victor Emmanuel possessed, the Government was more blunt: the Emperor would either agree to the terms imposed on Austria-Hungary, or an independent government would be established and be authorized by Italy to ensure the Habsburgs were given the “Parisian Treatment.” The implication being there would be violent executions of one Habsburg royal after another under the guise of an independent nation’s revolutionary fervor. Some anecdotes say the Emperor was specifically told his teenage grandchildren would be shot in front of his eyes first, though these are hardly conclusive.

Summoning whatever members of the Austro-Hungarian government it could find, Italy (and its various allied and puppet states) and Austria-Hungary signed the Treaty of Campoformido. The Treaty was signed in the same city where France and Austria had divided Italy during the early Napoleonic Wars, a symbolic gesture that represented how both former Great Powers had been utterly crushed by the “geographic expression” they had both underestimated in prior generations.

The Treaty marked the formal end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Treaty stipulated it was to be the last act of legislation signed by the Austro-Hungarian government, before proceeding to call for the cession of the entire Adriatic coast to Italy in line with the domination the Republic of Venice had enjoyed over the area. Sudtirol was likewise a target; most Germans were marked to be Italianised or deported. France, meanwhile, ceded Savoy and Nice to Italy on the basis of regaining Alsace-Lorraine in the upcoming campaign against Germany, as well as the French-speaking portions of Switzerland. Meanwhile, Austria-Hungary itself was dissolved, with the Slavic regions all being declared the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Austria and Bohemia becoming the Kingdom of Austria, and the remainder of the Empire emerging as the Hungarian Kingdom. Victor Emmanuel was, as usual, declared to be the monarch of all three entities. De facto control did not match up to de jure, however – the Hungarian Kingdom exercised more authority over border regions with Russia than Russia itself did, while in Dalmatia and Yugoslavia, the Balkan Alliance held lands that Austria-Hungary had ceded in the same treaty that had destroyed it.

Remedying these issues of control would come later, however; the Italian military had to move quickly to neutralize Germany, sure that the war-weary Russians would soon make peace with the Germans. As there were still nine months to go until Italy could make peace… a plan was decided.



The Italian military would not stop until it had pressed the Germans against the coast. There were two reasons for this: firstly, doing so would rob Germany of most of its population centers, but also all available Iron deposits. Germany would thus be dependent on Italian trade to secure Iron for steel. Italy would be happy to provide such steel, of course, as secondly, the German shipwrights were some of the world’s finest, and their fleets would do a great deal to eat up British resources in any future war. Germany could thus be relegated to client state status, as well as be incredibly lucrative.



To begin the campaign against the Germans, D’Poggio-Montmorency was ordered to strike at Strasbourg. A city that often changed hands between French and German powers, it was the region of Alsace-Lorraine that Italy had promised its “ally” France in exchange for Savoy and Nice. He kills 5 Machinegunners, 1 City Guard and 1 Conscript.

Rather than push forward, the decision is made to allow our soldiers to rest and solidify our grip on what we’ve taken. The Germans have suffered immensely this month, with Germany officially on the defensive as we begin to penetrate their homeland. Shall we succeed where Augustus failed?

We do strike at the Madeira Islands with Naval Infantry, however, killing three of the local divisions… this will go a long way towards securing a victory there.



Week 13, Dietrich gets his turn at command, striking at the heart of Bavaria. He slaughters 6 units and taking the city. The Germans’ light defense is quickly becoming their undoing; it is assumed most German soldiers are away on campaign in Russia, likely stranded in Germany’s puppet kingdoms there.



With Munich taken and our gains from the Austrian Campaign secure, we order Donati to strike at Breslau to begin the conquest of German Silesia. He decimates 7 units and conquers the region, Poland slowly being reunified underneath Italy’s rule (His Holiness is particularly pleased given the strong Catholicism of the Polish people).



With the light defenses continuing, Belloni is ordered against Dresden. Belloni crushes 4 divisions and destroys a Zeppelin in its hangar.

Trenches separate Dresden from Berlin, and while it would be very possible to slaughter the Germans in the trenches and advance on the capital, it is instead decided to direct all forces against Dusseldorf so as to capture the rich Rhineland, before launching a unified push against Berlin.



D’Poggio-Montmorency is the General tasked with disposing of Germany’s industrial heartland. He wipes the floor with 6 German divisions. It is assumed there is a hefty amount of troops in Berlin, though why the Germans would leave their outlying cities so vulnerable is unknown.

With Dusseldorf seized, the road to Berlin is open. In but a few weeks, the might of Italy and all its client regimes shall pour down upon the German capital.

Week 13, Japan makes peace with Germany, before arranging for China to declare war on Britain.

For their part, the Germans did not even bother to mount a counterattack. With the Germans clearly on the run, Belloni, D’Poggio-Montmorency, Dietrich, and Donati all join forces to take the city of Berlin.



The bloody battle kills 14 German brigades. The German Campaign is officially declared over at midnight on April 15th, 1907; the message is telegraphed to the Kaiser that Italy will no longer be pursuing hostilities against German-controlled territory, though will continue to assault all German forces that enter Italian-occupied territory. Italy thus declares a unilateral ceasefire.

News of the Italian declaration shocks Europe; Italy has overrun most of Germany in a matter of two months with barely any losses. The Germans coin the term “blitzkrieg” to refer to the sheer speed and efficiency of the advance, futilely hoping to one day emulate it. Left to fend against the Russians, the German High Command at least can rest easy knowing losses of territory will be minimal in the aftermath of the Berlin Declaration.

The Italian War Ministry soon sets up a defensive line in northern Germany and in Brussels (in the event the Dutch are overrun or make peace), before sending all available troops to Serbia.



Week 17, a neutral General takes the Madeira Islands, driving Portugal from Europe; they are left with only a portion of the Antilles and Timor. Peace is due to be made with Portugal as soon as existing obligations to fight them expire in about three months’ time.



The assault on Pristina by General Dietrich is a decisive victory, killing 5 professional brigades and 1 Conscript. The Serb and Montenegrin militaries are absolutely decimated in the battle, which cuts the Balkan Alliance in half with Bulgaria and Romania in the East and de facto independent Albania and Greece to the West.

The seizure of Pristina compromises the defenses of the eastern Balkans, who now find themselves flanked; General Donati soon cuts a warpath through the Bulgarian territories before finding his enemies at Bucharest.

Crushing their pitiful six-brigade defenses, Donati ensures the swift defeat of the Bulgarians and Romanians mere weeks after the defeat the Serbs and Montenegrins. At the Treaty of Belgrade, all four defeated powers resign the Balkan Alliance, de jure dissolving it as that leaves only Greece with an internationally unrecognized Albania. The Treaty cedes the entirety of the Montenegrin coastline to Italy, while Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria are all formally dissolved and incorporated into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Romania was granted the southern extremities of Hungarian territory that were Romanian-majority, but had to cede some of Transylvania to Hungary in exchange.



General Belloni rolls across Albania and into northern Greece, arriving at Kerkira. His armies carve a path through 8 brigades, destroying the acting Albanian state and placing much of Greece under Italian control (the area confusingly still part of the Ottoman Empire though having been de facto owned by Greece for years).

Week 21, artillery in Africa sink over a dozen Ottoman vessels off the Horn. It is a sign of the impending doom the Ottoman Empire is about to be face.



In the meantime, General D’Poggio-Montmorency seizes Athens. He cuts through 14 brigades with minimal casualties.

The Treaty of Athens leaves the Greeks expectant to be granted the usual European treatment: a nominally independent state under Italian suzerainty. They are granted no such thing; all of Greece is declared to be a component of the Kingdom of Italy, and Italian is granted official status throughout the entire country. The Greek people are meant to be assimilated within fifty years.



General Donati takes Thessaloniki next, re-unifying the Greek Italians (as government documents have begun to refer to everyone resident of the area once known as “Greece&#8221. He brings ruin to 8 Turkish brigades. The route to Istanbul is opened at last…

 

[Tani Coyote]

And Part II.

===State of the Kingdom XIII: 1908 (Covers 1907) Part II===

No map or stats because this is going to be epilogued so I can get The Politics of Empire up and running.

National Politics

Spoiler :

A bitter struggle over Rome has left the Trevisan still in control, though without the huge majority they possessed previously.

King Victor Emmanuel III has assumed the title “Emperor of the Italians” and shall henceforth be Emperor Victor Emmanuel III.

Foreign and Military Affairs

Spoiler :

Week 25, the stubborn Wilhelm II dispatches five elite brigades to harass Dusseldorf; they are cut down with no losses.



Dietrich strikes at Istanbul, killing 15 Brigades. For the first time in centuries, the Ottomans have been driven from all of Europe, and Constantinople is once more in the hands of the West. While some analysts propose ending the campaign there, others propose going further to the east and seizing control of the entirety of Asia Minor in preparation for a massive invasion of the Levant. In the meantime, great news abounds in that the Ottomans are stripped of their industrial capabilities without Coal.



Belloni takes the helm and strikes at Ankara, the heart of Asia Minor, and cuts the Ottoman forces in the region in half. He destroys 4 brigades.



D’Poggio-Montmorency is assigned to push against Trabzon, which will link up with the Russian front. He destroys 4 divisions.



Donati is given the honor of banishing the last Turkish forces from Asia Minor at the city of Antalya. He destroys 7 Brigades. The Ottoman threat to Europe is nullified; only the Russians can come even close to posing a threat to Italy’s supremacy on the continent. The Government issues an order to begin mass deportation of Turks eastward from Istanbul and Ionia, seeking to claim areas once historically Greek for Italian settlement.

In three weeks, the Ottoman homeland had been overrun, shocking Europe. The Turks were caught off guard with such intensity that their resistance practically evaporated in the face of Italian numbers, artillery, and speed. The plans for the invasions of Crete and the Levant, which conservative estimates had suggested would not take place until the end of the year, were now being considered with due diligence. The Turkish Government in Baghdad hoped for their sake they could better defend the Levantine coast than they could Anatolia.

Week 29, the Anglo-Spanish War comes to an end, with Britain securing the independence of a puppet state of Navarre.



At last we make peace with Portugal, forcing them to cede all their rights to the occupied territories as well as pay an indemnity; they are too broke to pay regular tribute. Now the Federal Kingdom of Timor and the Antilles, we anticipate the Portuguese remnants won’t last long. In the meantime we cut a deal with Spain on a new border for the Kingdom of Lusitania, our resident client state.

Argentina goes to war with Uruguay and Brazil in Week 37 at the behest of Russia.



Belloni takes Crete, having destroyed 9 Brigades. The Ottomans are fully driven from Europe, and an invasion force is deployed to Syria.

Week 41, the British betray us and sign peace with the Ottomans, thus freeing up the Ottoman forces besieging Aden to move northward. They are still in a war with Persia, however, and so we reason we may as well keep pushing to take the Levant and perhaps Mesopotamia.



The Ottomans were likewise betrayed by the last of their Central Power Allies. They now stood alone against a military that had conquered central and southern Europe in less than a year. The Treaty of Versailles, signed in the Hall of Mirrors for irony as it was there where the German Empire had been born in the first place, imposed indemnities on Germany that were relatively lax as Italy did not seek to alienate the German Empire. The border changes were surprisingly liberal: Germany only had to cede Strasbourg and the surrounding areas to France per the deal Italy had concluded with its puppet regime, but Germany received all of Switzerland except for the Free City of Zurich in exchange. The Austro-Bohemian Kingdom established mere months prior was likewise abolished and absorbed into the Pan-German Reich that the Treaty proclaimed. Similarly, Germany was required to give up some of its eastern territories to create the new Kingdom of Poland with additional lands from Hungary; the Polish Kingdom was established in response to tensions with Russia over border territories as a warning that if Russia did not concede defeat a “New Poland” would result. For the time of the Treaty, however, Poland was merely a stretch of border territories established to keep skirmishes with Russia at arm’s length. Finally, while Germany remained intact as a unified state, the bulk of it was placed under de facto Italian rule with a slew of special privileges the Italian government and people enjoyed in all but the northernmost regions.



Belloni cuts down 5 brigades and begins the occupation of the Ottoman Levant.



Donati cuts down 4 brigades and seizes Mosul. The Persian military has dozens of brigades in the region, and will now turn their focus against Baghdad. The conquest of Mosul and the surrounding regions grants us a source of Coal in the region, allowing for steel, but a mere two metros would be too small a prize to make peace now.

Week 45, the British annex the Cuban city-state.



Belloni takes Baghdad, tearing apart 9 Brigades! Baghdad being the epicenter of the Ottoman Empire outside Europe, this is a massive blow to their remaining power.

Week 49, sensing the weakness of Madrid in the aftermath of the Anglo-Spanish War, the Philippines declare war on Spain so as to try and seize Manila.



Donati pushes down into Syria towards Amman, decimating 13 Ottoman brigades, including a counterattack force. The Turkish government now takes refuge in Jerusalem, the Holy City that has remained outside Christian hands for well over a millennia barring brief periods during the Crusades; Italy shall fix this issue once and for all.

Week 1, the Russians and British go to war. The Russians go through our territory to attack British-aligned Navarre; we use their dependence on our communications network to force the concession of the borderlands to Poland.



The devout of the Empire break out into cheers as Jerusalem is seized for Christendom, with Generals Donati and Belloni having torn through 9 brigades.

Domestic Developments

Spoiler :

Italy makes the first expedition to Antarctica now that it has secured control of the Mediterranean sea lanes, stimulating the development of new battleships and smaller vessels.



The revival of Greece is heralded by the establishment of the tobacco trade in Constantinople!

 

[Tani Coyote]

Epilogue



Only two weeks after the last shells fell upon Basra, the Ottoman government was signing the instrument of its surrender in Constantinople. In the treaty the Ottoman Empire ceded all its land in Europe, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia (including recently-annexed Kuwait) and the Levant. The Ottoman Empire was left crippled by the war, left with only Arabia and its Indian territories. The Ottoman Empire was formally dissolved by the Treaty, replaced by the Sultanate of Arabia and Mughal Sultanate, both of which were inherited by the Ottoman Sultan’s successor after his forced abdication. Still in a war with Russia and Persia, the Dual Sultanate now was heavily dependent on Italy’s goodwill to keep supply lines between the western and eastern kingdoms strong.

Having begun in 1905 with the Italo-Portuguese War, the Great War had exploded in the years 1906 to 1908 and engulfed every power in Europe but the Scandinavian countries. Central Power defeat was clear, however, with the destruction of Austria-Hungary and all the Balkan Alliance’s member states, as well as the subordination of the German Empire to Rome and the breaking of the Ottoman Empire. While various other wars corollary to the conflict would continue to rage, historians general date the Great War from 1905 to 1908 given the fact it was Italy that oversaw most of the dramatic shifts in territory.

It was the aftermath of the War that left the world puzzled what would happen next. Britain was at war with Russia and America, the two Great Powers it had hoped to forge an alliance with to contain Italy’s dangerous power. While the British Empire remained the world’s strongest, many analysts questioned exactly what would occur if London and Rome were to have a heated argument.

With Britain distracted around the world, Italy was easily able to tighten its dominance of Europe. The Spanish and Dutch kingdoms were both forced into a more acceptable position, signing alliances and concessions with the Italian Empire. Italy also worked to stabilize relationships with Scandinavia so as to ensure that they would remain neutral in any conflict with Russia and Britain. Meanwhile, the Italian government spent billions upon billions of lira across Europe to rapidly expand the infrastructure of the conquered territories, as well as to rebuild that which had been lost. While Europe’s overall population declined under Italian hegemony, its productivity and quality of life had never been greater, leading to comparisons to post-Bubonic Plague Europe in later years.

When the dust settled, America had seized control of Canada and the Anglo-Russian War had remained in a stalemate. Britain found it hard to court the United States, which desired to conquer Mexico and turn North America into its fortress, but it did find sympathetic pragmatism in Moscow; the Anglo-Russian Alliance was soon formed as a counter to Italy’s alliances on the continent. This in turn prompted Italy to pursue its own bold moves, declaring the “European Union” as a supranational organization that in theory left much autonomy to member states, but in reality was dominated by Italy, with attempts to leave the organization dealt with harshly. By 1912, the European Union established Victor Emmanuel III as its head of state; critics called the E.U. a “New Roman Empire,” which it certainly was in all but name.

The alliances gradually expanded to cover the entire Old World. Italy made the first move, signing a pact with Japan so as to divide Russia’s focus in the event of war; this would allow Japan’s growing industrial might to emerge unchallenged in the western Pacific. In retaliation, Britain and Russia befriended China so as to gain huge manpower reserves in Asia, with China seeking to retake German and Japanese territories. Italy courted the Arab and Mughal Sultanates on the issue of British Arabia and India, and the Shi’ite Persians responded by aligning with the Anglosphere against their historical ex-Ottoman foes. Italy gained the friendship of the Boer Republics through the spread of lies that Britain would soon try and take their independence away, giving it a clear edge in Africa.

Nearly every Old World power had taken a side, with Tibet and Siam debating whether it would be in their best interests to go either way or the other. The United States was crafting an empire in the Caribbean, and both the English and Italian sides hoped for American assistance to secure dominance. Italian analysts confidently predicted victory on the basis of a massive industrial base that could quickly conquer the industrial core of Russia before focusing westward to seize Britain and then curving southward to roll across Africa. British analysts similarly predicted victory on the basis of Russo-Chinese manpower and the sheer might of the Royal Navy versus that of the Regina Marina.

When the Russian Tsesarevich Alexei was killed in Warsaw in June 1914 by Polish Nationalists, Tsar Nicholas II demanded blood. Only a mere six years after one world war, a second had started when the Russians were ordered by their irritable Emperor to invade Poland. The smug confidence of both sides was about to be put to the test.