December World - game thread
- Thread starter Ahigin
- Start date
ChineseWarlord
Prince
I'm afraid I'll be dropping this game, although I'll still look at interesting developments from time to time.
Fragments 3:
He was handsome. He was twenty-five. A war hero. A Legion of Honour on his right breast. He arrived in China in one of the first waves. Convicted for trying to incite the workers to break the armistice. A lost cause. The men and women just wanted to go home. In peacetime he was a poet of a radical inclination. Later they would call him a Futurist. He denied he ever was. But his works were about the need liberate France from her past in order to forge a new socialist future. He liked to talk about Year Zero. A blank slate. A new start. A new era. He wrote a famous poem about Year Zero. He read it to me. He made me feel special. Perhaps I was even the first to hear it. He was my first.
*
I had two close comrades. Both veterans of the front. There was K. An economist with a specialization in planning. He cut her teeth on the railroads. During the war he sharpened them on a submarine. Then there was R. R was a political scientist. A scholar of scientific socialism and historical materialism. R had learned a new set of skills in the Alps. He was a trench raider. A brave man. Both had been sentenced to exile for the same reason as me. We had resisted treason and it had cost us everything.
*
The three comrades as I came to call them always dressed formally. Top hats, tail coats, vests, gloves, canes and shined patent leather shoes. But one feature stood out to me. The radish flowers in their coat lapels. One day I asked about them. He said they were a reminder of hard times on the front when radishes were all there was to eat. His eyes clouded and he paused. Well that, he said, and whatever the Germans had in their trenches. He had to tell me this twice. The first time I got lost in the timbre of his voice. My heart, I remember it even now, missed a beat. He repeated himself smiling all the while. I think he knew the effect he had on women. The second time I heard him but it was a struggle. Did I mention he was handsome?
*
I was never one of them. The three. I suppose it was because I was a she or because I was his. I was never sure. If I was part of any group, I would say it was the so-called student clique. I was the only one of us who was part of it. I was not the only Chinese speaker. In those days, most of us tried. But I, perhaps alone, succeeded. That’s not true really. Others were as good as me. But where they were mere visitors, dabblers in the language out of necessity, I alone went native. I dressed as one, I ate like one, rice with every meal and for a time I even worshiped as one. That caused a scandal on both sides. I stopped but the point had been made. In their eyes, I was one of them. I alone. And that is why I am still here all these years later.
*
As I walked out along the canal I saw her. She was extraordinary: tall, shapely in all the right places, with long delicate legs, beautiful long hair that played out in waves and magnificent shining eyes.
*
She was tall for a Chinese woman. But still shorter by a head than a European woman. She was thin, lean. Hard muscles. She shook my hand once and her grip was painful. Her hair was her best feature. It was long and fell in waves. My Chinese colleagues were all in awe of it. Her face would have been pretty but for a broken nose and the fact that her right eye was clouded.
I joked once that she looked like she had been in a bar-fight. My host, a Chinese, blanched and asked that I not repeat such rumours. But it wasn't her face or figure which caught my attention. No. What really stuck with me were her eyes. They were the eyes of someone who had seen much in life and had survived it all. I taught her in that first class. I would even say I was her friend.
*
She was not like the others I had chased. They had been retiring on the surface but once you pushed past that initial resistance, you found they were anything but like that underneath the sheets. She on the other hand had no time for me. I never found out why she disliked me. Later on, when we were closer, I asked why. She never responded except to give me a half smile of the kind where your teeth never show and all that moves are your lips, and those most reluctantly.
I chased her, I confess. I who had always been willing prey became the hunter. I was no good at this. I suppose my looks had always been enough. I found that I did not really know how to smile on demand. It was not helped that around her my smiles became rictuses. A madman's smile. My hands perspired. My shirts dripped and stank. I suppose this was stress. At the time though I thought myself ill. Consumption having an attraction as a cause of my suffering. After-all was it not the disease of the romantic?
I saw Doctor M. An old revolutionary. A veteran of the Revolution. He was old then. His back hunched, his hair all but gone except for that which sheltered in his ears and noses and made sudden inopportune appearances. The efforts of his wife with tweezers and scissors naught in the face of the multitude of hairs. For all that he still had a youthful demeanour and was fond of jokes and hosted parties out of his house which all of us young folk attended. There he would tell us stories of the old days before the revolution and his many brushes with the Sûreté.
His bedside manner followed was much the same as his public self. He asked me a series of questions. Took my pulse. Listened to my chest. Clapped my back. Sniffed my urine. Then he asked me what was wrong. I of course thinking then of the attacks I had been having where I would struggle for air said that it was consumption. He asked what sort of consumption. I had no idea how to respond. There was after-all just the one. He laughed and suggested that I had perhaps the worst kind of consumption. I was taken aback and could not help but ask how long I had.
The good doctor then gave me his advice and it is advice that I have long adhered to in all manner of things. He said
"All things go back to a woman. That is a fact. You are fortunate perhaps to look as you do. I was myself once a handsome man. That brings with it power of a certain kind. This is the power to sway the women you don't want. You are a Hegelian no? Of course, you are. You understand the issue then. You see as Hegel tells us every thesis creates its own antithesis. In your case, those women you do want, the ones immune to your superficial charms, are the ones who do not want you. This might seem a hopeless prospect then but I assure you it is not so. For in the seeds of thesis and antithesis there is always synthesis. How you arrive at this solution is yours to ponder. But what I question is why you feel this way? She is clearly smitten with you.
*
Yes, I was. But he did not want me. I wanted him. To hell with Hegel.
He was handsome. He was twenty-five. A war hero. A Legion of Honour on his right breast. He arrived in China in one of the first waves. Convicted for trying to incite the workers to break the armistice. A lost cause. The men and women just wanted to go home. In peacetime he was a poet of a radical inclination. Later they would call him a Futurist. He denied he ever was. But his works were about the need liberate France from her past in order to forge a new socialist future. He liked to talk about Year Zero. A blank slate. A new start. A new era. He wrote a famous poem about Year Zero. He read it to me. He made me feel special. Perhaps I was even the first to hear it. He was my first.
*
I had two close comrades. Both veterans of the front. There was K. An economist with a specialization in planning. He cut her teeth on the railroads. During the war he sharpened them on a submarine. Then there was R. R was a political scientist. A scholar of scientific socialism and historical materialism. R had learned a new set of skills in the Alps. He was a trench raider. A brave man. Both had been sentenced to exile for the same reason as me. We had resisted treason and it had cost us everything.
*
The three comrades as I came to call them always dressed formally. Top hats, tail coats, vests, gloves, canes and shined patent leather shoes. But one feature stood out to me. The radish flowers in their coat lapels. One day I asked about them. He said they were a reminder of hard times on the front when radishes were all there was to eat. His eyes clouded and he paused. Well that, he said, and whatever the Germans had in their trenches. He had to tell me this twice. The first time I got lost in the timbre of his voice. My heart, I remember it even now, missed a beat. He repeated himself smiling all the while. I think he knew the effect he had on women. The second time I heard him but it was a struggle. Did I mention he was handsome?
*
I was never one of them. The three. I suppose it was because I was a she or because I was his. I was never sure. If I was part of any group, I would say it was the so-called student clique. I was the only one of us who was part of it. I was not the only Chinese speaker. In those days, most of us tried. But I, perhaps alone, succeeded. That’s not true really. Others were as good as me. But where they were mere visitors, dabblers in the language out of necessity, I alone went native. I dressed as one, I ate like one, rice with every meal and for a time I even worshiped as one. That caused a scandal on both sides. I stopped but the point had been made. In their eyes, I was one of them. I alone. And that is why I am still here all these years later.
*
As I walked out along the canal I saw her. She was extraordinary: tall, shapely in all the right places, with long delicate legs, beautiful long hair that played out in waves and magnificent shining eyes.
*
She was tall for a Chinese woman. But still shorter by a head than a European woman. She was thin, lean. Hard muscles. She shook my hand once and her grip was painful. Her hair was her best feature. It was long and fell in waves. My Chinese colleagues were all in awe of it. Her face would have been pretty but for a broken nose and the fact that her right eye was clouded.
I joked once that she looked like she had been in a bar-fight. My host, a Chinese, blanched and asked that I not repeat such rumours. But it wasn't her face or figure which caught my attention. No. What really stuck with me were her eyes. They were the eyes of someone who had seen much in life and had survived it all. I taught her in that first class. I would even say I was her friend.
*
She was not like the others I had chased. They had been retiring on the surface but once you pushed past that initial resistance, you found they were anything but like that underneath the sheets. She on the other hand had no time for me. I never found out why she disliked me. Later on, when we were closer, I asked why. She never responded except to give me a half smile of the kind where your teeth never show and all that moves are your lips, and those most reluctantly.
I chased her, I confess. I who had always been willing prey became the hunter. I was no good at this. I suppose my looks had always been enough. I found that I did not really know how to smile on demand. It was not helped that around her my smiles became rictuses. A madman's smile. My hands perspired. My shirts dripped and stank. I suppose this was stress. At the time though I thought myself ill. Consumption having an attraction as a cause of my suffering. After-all was it not the disease of the romantic?
I saw Doctor M. An old revolutionary. A veteran of the Revolution. He was old then. His back hunched, his hair all but gone except for that which sheltered in his ears and noses and made sudden inopportune appearances. The efforts of his wife with tweezers and scissors naught in the face of the multitude of hairs. For all that he still had a youthful demeanour and was fond of jokes and hosted parties out of his house which all of us young folk attended. There he would tell us stories of the old days before the revolution and his many brushes with the Sûreté.
His bedside manner followed was much the same as his public self. He asked me a series of questions. Took my pulse. Listened to my chest. Clapped my back. Sniffed my urine. Then he asked me what was wrong. I of course thinking then of the attacks I had been having where I would struggle for air said that it was consumption. He asked what sort of consumption. I had no idea how to respond. There was after-all just the one. He laughed and suggested that I had perhaps the worst kind of consumption. I was taken aback and could not help but ask how long I had.
The good doctor then gave me his advice and it is advice that I have long adhered to in all manner of things. He said
"All things go back to a woman. That is a fact. You are fortunate perhaps to look as you do. I was myself once a handsome man. That brings with it power of a certain kind. This is the power to sway the women you don't want. You are a Hegelian no? Of course, you are. You understand the issue then. You see as Hegel tells us every thesis creates its own antithesis. In your case, those women you do want, the ones immune to your superficial charms, are the ones who do not want you. This might seem a hopeless prospect then but I assure you it is not so. For in the seeds of thesis and antithesis there is always synthesis. How you arrive at this solution is yours to ponder. But what I question is why you feel this way? She is clearly smitten with you.
*
Yes, I was. But he did not want me. I wanted him. To hell with Hegel.
Last edited:
JohannaK
Heroically Clueless
The Once and Future King
“Where is the Grand Vizier?”
Silence.
“Where is the Grand Vizier?”
Silence.
“Where is the Grand Vizier?”
Not a soul knew to answer. Not in the Sheesh Mahal or the Naulakha. On his own, without notice, he walked towards the Diwan-i-Khas.
“Wait, Your Majesty!”
“Shall I fear in my own home? Stay on your post, jamadar.”
“Your Majesty!”
The guards left behind, the Hall of the Council empty, the Maharaja marvelled at his solitude as he moved on. If no person had spoken in his quarters, there were no people here at all.
“Your Majesty!”
“Watch the walls or someone else will, jamadar!”
Outrunning the diligence of the guards, the turbaned, bearded monarch crossed into Jahangir’s Quadrangle to examine the Diwan-i-Aam. From hall to hall, through the vast gardens.
“Finally, Your Majesty!”
The progression was stupendous. He relished being surprised by it each time. Though no corner of the world was as beautiful as the shining, fractured, geometry of the Sheesh Mahal, to walk through large to larger courts likewise enlargened his soul. He stopped dead in the middle of the Diwan-i-Aam. Taking the garden in through the nimble columns, he felt his chest would burst. Bursting he waited for his guard.
“Don’t ever do this again, your Majesty!”
“Amjan Singh, I will promote you to get away from your zeal.”
“Thou should not wander beyond safety, Your Majesty!”
“Would you say a falcon glides as it speeds onto its prey? Where there is intention, there can be no wandering. Am I not secure within this Fort?”
“I did not mean”
“You did not, and I did. Now escort me to my rooms. Those labourers and gardeners are too busy to take notice of me, which surely means they plot against me.”
“Your Majesty”
“Do not talk to me if you cannot tell me where the Grand Vizier is.”
It had been days, days of silence and leisure, days or signing and receiving fastidious ambassadors with nothing to say, nothing to ask, and nothing to talk about. Days of routine for the sake of routine, days of eccentric walks and talks with clerks and servants beyond earsight of the guard. The Maharaja lived a second adolescence, and nobody felt the need to end it but himself – Bhajan Singh!
“Your Majesty, it is most urgent for you to sign these decrees.”
“Bhajan Singh, what has been of you?”
“Your Majesty, duty awaits.”
“How goes the war, Manish?”
“It goes, Your Majesty.”
“It goes, and it keeps you away from me. Manish.” The Maharaja was hurt when his sly stare got nothing but indifference back.
“We attack. We defend. We eke out whatever advances we can”
“You shouldn’t think that, because I know I could never be as good, I do not want to know.”
“I never would, Your Majesty,”
“I let you keep me out of ruling, but I want to stay on the loop.”
“I should suggest you come by Army Headquarters sometime. There is too much to do to”
“To do? To come? To send a messenger with the briefs?” There was a tinge of resentment in the voice and nothing but steel in the eyes. Fire met them across the room. “You know me better than my own mother. You”
“You know that you don’t have the temper to rule. You have chosen me to do so in your stead, and I shall, if you let me.”
“Hah! If I haven’t given you everything a man can give another, I have given you nothing.”
“Then I shall go and rule. Feel free to interrupt us.”
“Manish!” The face turned into a back, smaller and smaller at each step. “Vizier!” Smaller. “Manish!”
“Where is the Grand Vizier?”
Silence.
“Where is the Grand Vizier?”
Silence.
“Where is the Grand Vizier?”
Not a soul knew to answer. Not in the Sheesh Mahal or the Naulakha. On his own, without notice, he walked towards the Diwan-i-Khas.
“Wait, Your Majesty!”
“Shall I fear in my own home? Stay on your post, jamadar.”
“Your Majesty!”
The guards left behind, the Hall of the Council empty, the Maharaja marvelled at his solitude as he moved on. If no person had spoken in his quarters, there were no people here at all.
“Your Majesty!”
“Watch the walls or someone else will, jamadar!”
Outrunning the diligence of the guards, the turbaned, bearded monarch crossed into Jahangir’s Quadrangle to examine the Diwan-i-Aam. From hall to hall, through the vast gardens.
“Finally, Your Majesty!”
The progression was stupendous. He relished being surprised by it each time. Though no corner of the world was as beautiful as the shining, fractured, geometry of the Sheesh Mahal, to walk through large to larger courts likewise enlargened his soul. He stopped dead in the middle of the Diwan-i-Aam. Taking the garden in through the nimble columns, he felt his chest would burst. Bursting he waited for his guard.
“Don’t ever do this again, your Majesty!”
“Amjan Singh, I will promote you to get away from your zeal.”
“Thou should not wander beyond safety, Your Majesty!”
“Would you say a falcon glides as it speeds onto its prey? Where there is intention, there can be no wandering. Am I not secure within this Fort?”
“I did not mean”
“You did not, and I did. Now escort me to my rooms. Those labourers and gardeners are too busy to take notice of me, which surely means they plot against me.”
“Your Majesty”
“Do not talk to me if you cannot tell me where the Grand Vizier is.”
It had been days, days of silence and leisure, days or signing and receiving fastidious ambassadors with nothing to say, nothing to ask, and nothing to talk about. Days of routine for the sake of routine, days of eccentric walks and talks with clerks and servants beyond earsight of the guard. The Maharaja lived a second adolescence, and nobody felt the need to end it but himself – Bhajan Singh!
“Your Majesty, it is most urgent for you to sign these decrees.”
“Bhajan Singh, what has been of you?”
“Your Majesty, duty awaits.”
“How goes the war, Manish?”
“It goes, Your Majesty.”
“It goes, and it keeps you away from me. Manish.” The Maharaja was hurt when his sly stare got nothing but indifference back.
“We attack. We defend. We eke out whatever advances we can”
“You shouldn’t think that, because I know I could never be as good, I do not want to know.”
“I never would, Your Majesty,”
“I let you keep me out of ruling, but I want to stay on the loop.”
“I should suggest you come by Army Headquarters sometime. There is too much to do to”
“To do? To come? To send a messenger with the briefs?” There was a tinge of resentment in the voice and nothing but steel in the eyes. Fire met them across the room. “You know me better than my own mother. You”
“You know that you don’t have the temper to rule. You have chosen me to do so in your stead, and I shall, if you let me.”
“Hah! If I haven’t given you everything a man can give another, I have given you nothing.”
“Then I shall go and rule. Feel free to interrupt us.”
“Manish!” The face turned into a back, smaller and smaller at each step. “Vizier!” Smaller. “Manish!”
Update 6: January 1, 1894 - June 30, 1894
Global changes
Q1-Q2 1894:
After decades of unstoppable progress - and unstoppable bloodshed! - people across the globe are entering a brave new world. A world in which roles of the state and of the individual are often intertwined in way previously never imagined. (New policies are added, policy groups are formed with specific group rules, all policy conflicts are resolved via a one-time policy swap.)
The Treaty of Bucharest has brought the War of Hungarian Containment to its surprisingly anticlimactic conclusion. The terms of the treaty mostly saw Hungary’s strength in Eastern Europe left intact (albeit, diminished), and its biggest impact on the country was its transitioning from a Habsburg-led monarchy to a parliamentary republic led by an organ known as the Országgyűlésof (Country's Assembly). More specifically, the terms of the treaty included:
- Mutual abandonment of claims by the Austrian and Hungarian branches of the House of Habsburg on each other, and by the nations of Austria-Bavaria and Hungary in general;
- Reparations from Hungary to Austria-Bavaria in suitable amounts for the aggression that started this conflict;
- Surrender of the province of Slavonia to the Kingdom of Illyria, to ensure its future security against invasion;
- Surrender of the northern komitats, colloquially "Slovakia" to Poland (except its two southernmost, Hungarian-majority districts (Komáromi járás/Komárno District and Dunaszerdahelyi járás/Dunajská Streda District)), to ensure its future security against invasion;
- A formal end to Hungarian political and military control of the Romanian Domnate, recognizing its new sovereignty.
(Armistice: region Danube Region: Hungary gains +21.28% Regional Influence, Austria-Bavaria loses -5.07% Regional Influence, Directorial Russia loses -16.21% Regional Influence)
(Border changes: region Danube Region: Illyria gains +1.5% Regional Influence, Hungary loses -1.5% Regional Influence, region Poland-Czechia: Poland gains +15.21% Regional Influence, Hungary loses -15.21% Regional Influence)
As soon as Istria joined the Kingdom of Illyria, the Italian Republic acted upon its reputation as the liberators of Trieste and stuck a deal with the resurrected realm, purchasing the city from the war-ravaged country for a fair price.
(Region Balkans: Italy gains +1.5% Regional Influence, Illyria loses -1.5% Regional Influence)
(Italy: -40 HC, -18 IC, -30 EC, -5 MC; Illyria: +40 HC, +18 IC, +30 EC, +5 MC)
A similar treaty was signed with Communard France, following a political crisis in the Commune of Communes that lead to an establishment of a new organ known as the Plebean Council led by a pacifist member of the Possibilist movement, Plebean Praetor Paul Brousse. The terms of the Treaty of Luxemburg mirrored the Treaty of Bucharest almost line by line:
- The Commune of France shall agree to pay reparations to the Princely Confederation and Italy;
- A demilitarized zone will be established along the Dutch and the two German borders, defined by Calais-Saint-Quentin-Verdun-Neufchateau-Besancon. Violation of this demilitarized zone may be deemed an act of war against the signed parties of the treaty;
- The signatory powers and the Commune of France, acknowledging the undesirability of further armed conflict between the powers involved, hereby agree to the following.
- Provision of arms and financial support to groups deemed terrorist, rebel, or criminal by the governments of the signed parties shall be deemed illegal by the eyes of this Treaty.
- Promotion of groups, individuals, and political parties in other signatory states that promote lawful and peaceful dialogue and which does not agitate for explicitly violent act against another individual or the state, engender hatred against ethnic groups, and other such malcontent behavior will be tolerated, although a limit shall be placed on funding such organizations.
- Violation of the above two terms by either the signatory powers or France may be deemed a highly aggressive act destabilizing the state of peace in Europe, and may necessitate a coordinated response to enact justice against the offending party.
- A pact of non-aggression shall be signed between the signatory powers, the nation of Switzerland, and France, to last the duration of 15 years.
(Reparations: Communard France: -180 HC, -180 IC, -180 EC, -180 MC; Austria-Bavaria: +150 HC, +150 IC, +150 EC, +150 MC; Italy: +30 HC, +30 IC, +30 EC, +30 MC)
The end of the European phase of the Second Atlantic War is finally allowing many participating nations to demobilize their populations and economies. (Hungary removes “Military mobilization (mid term)”, removes “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Austria-Bavaria removes “Military mobilization (mid term)”, removes “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Communard France removes “Military mobilization (mid term)”, removes “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, North German Federation removes “Military mobilization (short term)”, removes “Economic mobilization (short term)”, Poland removes “Military mobilization (short term)”, removes “Economic mobilization (short term)”, Illyria removes “Military mobilization (short term)”, removes “Economic mobilization (short term)”, Netherlands removes “Military mobilization (short term)”, removes “Economic mobilization (short term)”, Italy removes “Military mobilization (short term)”, removes “Economic mobilization (short term)”)
As most of Central Europe is demobilizing, the remaining participants of the Second Atlantic War are starting to feel first effects of war exhaustion. (British Royal Commonwealth removes “Military mobilization (short term)”, removes “Economic mobilization (short term)”, adopts “Military mobilization (mid term)”, adopts “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Union of North America removes “Military mobilization (short term)”, removes “Economic mobilization (short term)”, adopts “Military mobilization (mid term)”, adopts “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Free Boer Republic removes “Military mobilization (short term)”, removes “Economic mobilization (short term)”, adopts “Military mobilization (mid term)”, adopts “Economic mobilization (mid term)”)
The Great Colonial War against the British Empire and expansion of the Great-Colombian conflict are bringing war policies to more countries around the world. (Communes of the Andes adopts “Military mobilization (short term)”, adopts “Economic mobilization (short term)”, Portugal-Brazil adopts “Military mobilization (short term)”, adopts “Economic mobilization (short term)”, Gran Colombia adopts “Military mobilization (short term)”, adopts “Economic mobilization (short term)”, Liberia adopts “Military mobilization (short term)”, adopts “Economic mobilization (short term)”, Indostan adopts “Military mobilization (short term)”, adopts “Economic mobilization (short term)”, Third Burmese Empire adopts “Military mobilization (short term)”, adopts “Economic mobilization (short term)”, Tokugawa Shogunate adopts “Military mobilization (short term)”, adopts “Economic mobilization (short term)”)
After being bartered from the Netherlands in exchange for a promise to build a first Dutch analytical engine, Ghana didn’t stay a Confederate colony for long. This year, the new territory was passed along to a surprising new owner, the Heavenly Kingdom of China, in exchange for a lucrative imported steel contract. (Region Greater Mali: Taiping Mandate gains +5% Regional Influence, Confederate States of America loses -5% Regional Influence, Confederate States of America: +15 MC, Taiping Mandate: -15 MC)
The development and renovation of the Golden Ring region in the heart of Medieval Rus’ paved a way for a series of reforms that essentially gave state funding for art, culture, and historical heritage of Russia. This reconnection with its past didn’t stop the country from exploring its multicultural present, especially as the Russian troops are victoriously returning from Europe and Russian seamen and engineers extend their helping hands to their Transpacific brothers. (Directorial Russia adopts “Arts endowment”, “Multiculturalism” for -271.17 HC, -918.45 EC, -103.55 MC)
Successful conclusion of the War of Hungarian Containment left Russian leadership with a clear realization that the Mother Russia no longer had to require on endless masses of recklessly brave infantry and thus could use this period of peace to downsize the army. In order not to startle military hardliners, the downsizing was done natural retirement without replacement, shrinking the size of frontline units throughout the first half of the year, while simultaneously increasing the military-industrial complex that provides the troops with munitions and equipment. (Directorial Russia: +2 Enterprises (-26.4 HC, -6 IC, -67.8 EC, -57.6 MC), -6 Corps (-maintenance))
Directorial Russia’s chemical industry and tools of communications continue evolving along the line of ever greater complexity. All the while, this sharp detachment from the romanticized past has created a mood of social alienation and denial among the youngest generation of Russian intelligentsia. (Directorial Russia adopts “Spark-gap radiotransmitters”, “Nihilism and moral relativity”, “Vulcanization of rubber”, Synthetic materials” for -55 IC, -192.5 EC, -54 MC)
The Transsibirian Railway is starting to pay off, as natural riches of the Russian Far East, ranging from gold to fish, are starting to flow to European Russia. Meanwhile, a cultural exchange is bringing more art and science to this once wild frontier. (Directorial Russia: -73 IC, +273 EC; Pacific Directory: +73 IC; -273 EC)
In exchange for the establishment of the Nankin University of Russian Learning, the Heavenly Kingdom has generously paid Russia in gold, silver, and paper money. (Directorial Russia: +200 EC; Taiping Mandate: -200 EC)
As the Putilov Manufacturing Concern approached the Kingdom of Georgia with an offer to establish operations in major cities of that mountainous nation, a series of trade agreements were also made, not only providing armaments and munitions for the Georgian army in exchange for discounts on Georgia’s agricultural produce and wine, but also serving as a trust exercise between Russia and its new Caucasian partner. (Directorial Russia: +50 HC, +50 EC, -20 MC; Georgia: -50 HC, -50 EC, +20 MC)
Having received Russia’s guarantees of geopolitical protection, the Domnus of Romania has given up on any attempts to rebuild the nation’s army and started to rely more on his newly formed (and still inexperienced) secret police for safeguarding his personal power. This has allowed Romania to sell its surplus armaments and start hiring Russian political advisers and espionage instructors instead. (Directorial Russia: -30 IC, +6 MC; Romanian Domnate: +30 IC, -6 MC)
Russian humanitarian aid has arrived to the rebuilding nation of Illyria, creating a positive image of Russia among the Croats and Slavonian Serbs. (Directorial Russia: -50 HC, -50 IC; Illyria: +50 HC, +50 IC)
Russian municipal experiment over the city of Izhevsk have persuaded the Siberian Popular Assembly to ease its strictly libertarian approach to public welfare and accept some basic subsidies for poor families and the unemployed. Simultaneously, ending a long period of administrative uncertainty, the Siberian Popular Assembly finally constitutionalized its main law and the structure of the state apparatus as a libertarian confederacy of free individuals with minimal involvement life of its citizens. (Siberian Popular Assembly adopts “Family support”, “Unemployment subsidies”, “Confederate state”, “Egalitarian democracy”, “Gray market economy”, “Labor unionism”, “Free trade”, “Armed citizenry” for -195.73 HC, -21.34 IC, -528.51 EC, -114.04 MC)
Russia’s investments into Siberian infrastructure and law enforcement created a powerful wave of modernization in the previously insulare Siberian society. Besides improving transportation and policing, this cultural exchange also allowed the Siberians to start to catch up with Europe culturally, as well gradually improve its mostly militia-based army in methods of asymmetrical warfare. (Siberian Popular Assembly adopts “Classicism and the Enlightenment”, “Expressionism and avant-garde”, “Scientific management”, “Socialism and class consciousness”, “Phenomenalism”, “Criminology”, “Transnational crime and law”, “Hydraulic power network”, “Internal combustion engine”, “Vaccination”, “Electrolysis”, “Paved streets and urban infrastructure”, “Highways and roadhouses”, “Vezdekhod and all-terrain vehicles”, “Defense in depth”, “Maskirovka and military camouflage” for -28.5 HC, -15.25 IC, -47.25 EC, -13.5 MC)
Finland is is undergoing a long overdue land reform that also is resulting in massive administrative changes, stemming from the nation’s timocratic, land ownership-based government structure. One reform that does stand out from that trend, however, is Finnish revolutionary education overhaul, aimed to help the nation escape its reputation of North-European backwaters. (Finland adopts “Ethical economy”, “Authoritarian democracy”, “Unitary state”, “Lifelong learning”, removes “Classical education” for -46.30 HC, -43.37 IC, -34.78 EC, -8.02 MC)
Finnish counter-intelligence and navy are finally being expanded to match, more or less, their possible Swedish counterparts, even as Sweden is lowering its aggressive rhetorics under the North-German umbrella. (Finland: +1 Mission, +1 Squadron (-18.6 HC, -19.5 IC, -39.1 EC, -25.3 MC)
Denmark-Norway formalizes its state of a dual union or parliamentary monarchies, while simultaneously developing its a modern economic policy. (Denmark-Norway adopts “Regulated market economy”, “Authoritarian democracy”, “Federate state”, “Legal pluralism” for -35.33 HC, -23.19 IC, -10.01 EC)
In the Baltic Duchies, a similar process is going along the lines of regional legal diversity and institutionalized labor contribution by regular citizens to the public welfare. (United Baltic Duchies adopts “Authoritarian democracy”, “Federate state”, “Legal pluralism”, “Corvee system” for -54.63 HC, -48.9 IC, -12.92 EC)
A newly elected Narodnik government of Hetman Hrushevsky is mastering the Hetmanate’s resources to establish a firm hold over the nation’s economic development. (Ukrainian Hetmanate: +2 Enterprises (-20.4 HC, -5 IC, -51.6 EC, -30.4 MC))
Not stopping at expansion of state-controlled industries, Hrushevksy’s cabinet also used the Narodnik-dominated Ukrainian Rada as an ally in pushing for a slew of political reforms, many of which are aimed at shaping the Hetmanate as a dynamic and capital-friendly, yet communitarian modern European nation. (Ukrainian Hetmanate adopts “People’s army”, “Regulated market economy”, “Solidarist economy”, “Collective ownership”, “Open class economy”, “Authoritarian democracy”, “Benign neglect”, “Minimal wage regulations” for -263.01 HC, -30.39 IC, -194.82 EC, -87.02 MC)
After being briefly invaded by Hungarian troops, Poland is rebuilding itself under a firm authoritarian guidance, promoting policies of patriotic learning, national welfare, and centralized, modern economy, generally known under an umbrella term “Sanacja” (“Sanation” or “Healing”). (Poland adopts “Unitary state”, “Particratic government”, “Universal male suffrage”, “Economic statism”, “Protectionism”, “Civil conscription”, “Workhouses”, “Mass propaganda”, “University stipends”, “Scientific subsidies”, removes “Serfdom”, “Child labor” -339.6 HC, -202.02 IC, -518.54 EC, -38.14 MC)
Modernization of the Polish state is not limited to the government apparatus alone. As Poland establishes itself as an Eastern-European powerhouse for the first time in two centuries, it leads to an economic and cultural renaissance, pushing the nation into the modernity. Most notable of these changes is integration of analytical engines in the nation’s scientific and industrial practices (while Poland currently has no analytical engines in its territory, it’s eagerly submitting works to the “Golem” engine of Prag, simultaneously studying its operation). (Poland adopts “Mass culture and popular art”, “Kinotropy and clack-animation”, “Bohemianism and counterculture”, “Manga, comics, and sequential art”, “Corporate ethos”, “Citizens’ dividend cards”, “Information economy”, “Gambling modus”, “Punchard cryptocurrency”, “Fast food industry”, “Hisbah and venture capital”, “Socialism and class consciousness”, “Globalism and cosmopolitism”, “Positivism and futurism”, “Phenomenalism”, “Psychoanalysis”, “Biologism and evolution theory”, “Environmentalism”, “Nihilism and moral relativity”, “Cultism and self-devotion”, “Constitutionalism”, “Investigative journalism”, “Transnational crime and law”, “Oligarchy and political corruption”, “Cartels and economic crime”, “Citizen data cards”, “Engine clacking”, “Entrepreneurial inventors”, “Clockwork automata”, “Data vaults”, “Spark-gap dario transmitters”, “Analytical engines”, “Hydraulic power network”, “Direct electric current”, “Vaccination”, “Refrigeration”, “Vulcanization of rubber”, Synthetic materials”, “Interchangeable parts”, “Continuous production”, “Mechanization of agriculture”, “Gas lighting and shift work”, “Electrified manufacture”, “Geologic expeditions”, “Dreisines and velocipedes” for -26.5 HC, -41.5 IC, -90.5 EC, -63 MC)
Polish Sanation is a process that is not only intensive, but also extensive. The Polish government is expanding its ability to project power and influence local and foreign markets by channelling national resources into various ministries of the state. (Poland: +2 Missions, +2 Enterprises (-50 HC, -37.6 IC, -104.8 EC, -39.6 MC))
While the world finds itself in the grip of a crisis of mechanical underproduction, Poland seems to be riding the wave of insanely high demand for its excess of industrial machinery and armaments. In one particular case, in Ukraine, it even used donations of machinery and weapons as a tool of political influence, which, albeit, couldn’t prevent a pro-Russian party from taking over the Ukrainian Rada. Meanwhile, the Polish attempt to trade with Georgia failed, as Directorial Russia promised a much better rate to the Georgians for exactly same services and goods..
(Poland: +35 IC, -5 MC; Sweden: -35 IC, +5 MC)
(Poland: +70 IC, -10 MC; Denmark-Norway: -70 IC, +10 MC)
(Poland: +275 EC, -10 MC; Indostan: -275 EC, +10 MC)
(Poland: +75 HC, +75 EC, -5 MC; Ma Dynasty: -75 HC, -75 EC, +5 MC)
(Poland: -15 MC; Ukrainian Hetmanate: +15 MC)
In North Germany, veterans of the Anti-Communard War are being gradually re-integrated to the Federation’s economy. (North German Federation converts 150 HC into 70.69 EC)
Another sign of a great de-escalation in Europe is a great reducement of the North German Federation’s armed forces, and especially of the swollen Bundeswehr, which was somewhat balanced by the Federation’s expansion of its state apparatus. (North German Federation: +1 Mission, +1 Enterprise (-26 HC, -25.3 IC, -69.2 EC, -39.1 MC), -12 Corps, -2 Squadron (-maintenance))
In another sign of times, the Council of Savants of the NGF has adopted a constitutional amendment that finally formalized the federate status of its motley “federal lands” and free cities, while also adopting a series of economic measures that clearly catered to the interests of young, innovative enterprises. (North German Federation adopts “Federate state”, “Startup economy” for -1470.56 HC)
While the North-German culture has just been enriched (while some say, “corrupted”) with comics (the most notable example of which remains a caricature anthology Simplicissimus), a process of an opposite kind is taking place in the German army. After the Central-European War, the Bundeswehr was left with a surplus of obsolete equipment that was simply taking space in the warehouses, waiting to be used by some garrison Freikorps troops that were never even raised. While in other countries such equipment is still being kept and even sometimes produced for use by second-grade troops, the Bundeswehr is confident in the country’s industry’s ability to produce more modern, higher quality equipment in any quantity, so obsolete items are being sold out or discontinued. Meanwhile, the Federation’s merchant marine is going for an even bolder discontinuation project, announcing that starting summer 1894 the entirety of the nation’s shipping is done exclusively by steamers and other ships that use mechanical propulsion. (North German Federation adopts “Manga, comics, and sequential art” for -37.5 IC, -25 EC, -6.25 MC, removes “Smoothbore small arms”, “Breech-loaded small arms”, “Tall sailing ships” (-maintenance))
The Margraviate of Moravia continues reinforcing its reputation as “Eastern Europe’s Switzerland,” a prosperous, neutral nation where hard work and toil could bring a talented entrepreneur any profit imaginable. (Moravia adopts “Anarcho-capitalism”, “Limited dictatorship”, “Unitary state” for -43.34 IC, -15.96 EC)
Now that Central Europe is once again at peace, Hungary’s Országgyűlésof (Country's Assembly) faces a long road of economic reforms. However, before they can be started, the Assembly has unanimously voted to disband the lion’s share of the nation’s armed forces and its vast intelligence apparatus. (Hungary: -5 Missions, -14 Corps (-maintenance))
Same route to re-balancing the budget is being pursued by the Confederation of Princes of Austria, Bavaria, and the Rheinland, a surprising victor in the Central-European War. (Austria-Bavaria: -1 Mission, -16 Corps (-maintenance))
Italy’s participation in the Central-European War granted it few gains, but at least it did show the Italian people their nation’s international potential, and it helped to pave a way for the intelligence service expansion in the Senate. (Italy: +1 Mission (-11.4 HC, -19.9 IC, -30.6 EC, -9.5 MC))
Now that the nation is no longer mobilized, the Italian klepto-democracy is trying to reform itself into a more conventional state with all administrative components in place and even some of the more progressive, labor-friendly aspects of ochlocracy being institutionalized. (Italy adopts “Authoritarian democracy”, “Federate state”, “Labor unionism” for -180.45 HC, -91.47 IC, -336.3 EC)
A collective stress suffered by the Italian society during the Central-European war did not only help to form a tighter cultural unity, but also led to a series of infrastructural and military innovations that were originally motivated by the war effort. (Italy adopts “Traditional art and culture”, “Classicism and the Enlightenment”, “Integrated railway network”, “Auftragstaktik and command by initiative”, “Women’s battalions” for -57 HC, -37.75 IC, -43 EC, -13.5 MC)
Hungary’s war exhaustion, however, is incomparable to the crisis that hit Communard France shortly before the signing of the Treaty of Luxemburg. Hoping to gradually help the French society recover from its severe demographic, economic, and expertise crisis, the Plebeian Council has disbanded more than half of the nation’s state apparatus and armed forces, citing the non-aggression pacts signed as part of the peace treaty as a guarantee the French people wouldn’t need much to worry about even with their standing army and fleet diminished to a bare minimum. (Communard France: -9 Missions, -5 Enterprises, -30 Corps, -13 Squadrons (-maintenance))
As the French economy nosedived in the aftermath of the Treaty of Luxemburg, convoys of humanitarian aid were received in France from an unlikely source, the Pacific Directory of the Russian Commonwealth. Meanwhile, on the return journey the ships carried thousands of refugees who wished to try their luck in the eclectic frontiers of Transpacifica. (Pacific Directory: +140 HC, -84 EC; Communard France: -140 HC, +84 EC)
Similar humanitarian aid was shipped to Hungary through Illyrian and Romanian ports, with a similar refugee exodus taking place there. (Pacific Directory: +53 HC, -53 EC; Hungary: -53 HC, +53 EC)
Meanwhile, at home, the Pacific Directory continued to transform itself into a market-friendly pseudo-democratic state with a very strong centralized control over its political life. (Pacific Directory adopts “Startup economy”, “Political police” for -181.8 HC, -37.01 IC)
Meanwhile, Transpacifica is being turned into a melting pot of ideas and technologies, combining military thought and industrial innovations brought by Russian engineers and Franco-Hungarian refugees with “personality cult” thinking introduced by Chinese and Mormon missionaries and ideologues. (Pacific Directory adopts “Manga and sequential art”, “Cultism and self-devotion”, “Nihilism and moral relativity”, “Electrolysis”, “Water and land conservation”, “Battalions of Death and shock troops”, “Telescopic sights and modern sniping”, “Field hospital system”, “Mobile gun shields”, “Maskirovka and military camouflage”, “Unrestricted commerce raiding and submarine warfare”, “Port strike” for -23.5 HC, -28.75 IC, -24.25 EC, -6 MC)
The Liberal Federalist coalition in control of the Iberian Republic’s Popular Council is trying to solve the country’s growing shortage of capable administrators and magistrates by finally adopting a constitution that institutionalizes the Republic as an egalitarian democracy with widest possible popular participation, thus enfranchising various class and ethnic minorities across the peninsula. (Iberian Republic adopts “Egalitarian democracy” for -75.08 HC)
In a move that surprised exactly no one, the Triune Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia, and Slavonia (popularly known as Illyria) continues borrowing from the reactionary social structures of its most loyal ally and protector, Austria-Bavaria, adopting a modernized version of Germanic feudalism in its post-war land distribution. (Illyria adopts “Neo-feudalism” for -3.64 IC, -4.58 MC)
The so-called “Sublime Constitution” of the Ottoman Empire has turned the venerable regime into a true representative of authoritarian democracy, with candidates for all administrative positions being appointed by the Grand Divan, but the positions granted based on a popular vote. Meanwhile, the old vilayet system was reformed, giving provincial governors less power than before, but also granting local population more participation in municipal and provincial matters. (Sublime porte adopts “Authoritarian democracy”, “Regional state” for -803.22 HC, -202.54 IC, -178.14 EC)
The constitutional and administrative reforms sweeping through the Ottoman Empire were expected to significantly dry the pool of cheap labor available to the Sublime Porte, forcing the nation import both migrant workers and goods produced by them from such distant places like Dixieland and Taiping China. In exchange, the Porte provided its trade partners with surplus mechanical equipment produced in the empire.
(Sublime Porte: +200 HC, -8 MC; Taiping Mandate: -200 HC, +8 MC)
(Sublime Porte: +100 HC, -8 MC; Confederate States of America: -100 HC, +4 MC)
The Caucasian Imamate has always been more of a religious tribal confederacy with a single spiritual leaders in its head rather than a modern state with a regular standing army. In 1894, however, this de-facto state of affairs was ratified by the Divan and the Mejlis of Elders. (Caucasian Imamate adopts “Limited dictatorship”, “Armed citizenry” for -22.09 EC, -1.34 MC)
The defeat of France in the Anti-Communard War has distanced the Ummah of Egypt from their socialist co-thinkers among the Kafir, but it did pave the way for Egypts glorious solitude, characterized, above all, by mercantile prosperity and relaxed control over the periphery and frontiers. (Egypt adopts “Mercantilism”, “Benign neglect” for -46.63 HC, -184.78 IC, -27 MC)
A series of innovations that impacted the Maghrebian society last year forced the Egyptian authorities to start a top-down reform of many aspects of the state, with the army and the navy receiving particular attention. (Egypt adopts “Cultism and self-devotion”, “Dreisines and velocipedes”, “Moving barrage”, “Bicycle-riding and ski infantry”, “Field hospital system”, “Field trenches”, “Defense in depth”, “Specialized troops”, “Paramilitary organizations”, “Women’s battalions”, “Battalions of Death and shock troops”, “Blinking light signalling”, “Amphibious operations”, “Blue-water navy”, “Kantai Kessen and decisive naval battle strategy”, “Power projection” for -268 HC, -116.5 IC, -75 EC, -24.5 MC)
Meanwhile, Sultan Abd al-Aziz I of Maghreb continued reforming the North-African state along the modern lines, hoping to finally gain industrial resources he needs to support his modernized armed and administrative forces. (Maghreb adopts “Labor unionism”, “Mercantilism”, “Laissez-faire economy”, “Remplacement” for -505.65 HC, -61.65 IC, -324.23 EC)
The troubled Sultanate of Oman has been struggling ever since the North-German Ostafrika Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft put an end to East-African slave trade. Now the Omani realm is reforming itself, with the biggest change being its transition from employment of slave-soldiers to mercenaries and professionally recruited Arabs and Swahili, which automatically means introduction of pensions for retired service members. (Oman adopts “Veteran pension”, “Seniority pension”, “Gambling ban”, “Limited dictatorship”, “Protectionism”, “Mercenarism”, “Professional military recruitment”, removes “Military slavery” for -1.26 IC, -166.31 EC)
Muslim Emperor of Abyssinia 'Abd Allah II ibn 'Ali 'Abd ash-Shakur may be unwilling to admit it, but Ummahist advisors sent to him by the Egyptian Khedive did persuade the stubborn ruler to start mending his relations with Coptic chiefs and princes. This proves to be a complex balancing act, with some benefits and protections being offered not only to local tribal nobility, but also to Red Sea trade guilds, poor peasant and herding communities of the highlands, as well as to the artistic centers of the Ethiopian culture, famous Coptic monasteries. (Abyssinia adopts “Solidarist economy”, “Ethical economy”, “Labor unionism”, “Employment equity”, “Limited dictatorship”, “Confederate state”, “Art endowment” for -116.65 HC, -76.75 EC, -1.43 MC)
The theocratic nation of Mahdist Sudan has finally transformed itself from an informal cult of followers of Mahdi teachings to a proper tribal state with its own version of the Sharia law being taken as a baseline for its legal system. (Mahdist State adopts “Partisan voluntarism”, “Religious and ideological nepotism”, “Institutionalized patriarchy”, Regulated market economy”, “Autarky”, “Autocracy”, “Regional state” for -18.03 HC, -3.74 IC, -13.04 EC, -0.14 MC)
An insular Kingdom of Buganda has never had a problem with wealth, which helped it to arm and equip the largest and most well-organized army in Central Africa, but now Bugandan weakness seems to present itself: its troops lack qualified leaders and officers, and the king’s administration is lacking magistrates and tax collectors. Looking to solve the problem, king Danieri Basammula-Ekkere Mwanga II Mukasa has reformed the nation to a somewhat stable tribal union recognizable by scholars of the Medieval Age. (Baganda adopts “Confederate state”, “Protectionism”, “Laissez-faire economy”, “Ethnic nepotism” for -10.45 HC, -8.49 EC, -0.18 MC)
Buganda’s levy is a relatively small force and thus it is in a desperate need of modernization if the “hidden kingdom” is to try and wrestle Central Africa out of other colonial powers’ control. To achieve that, the Bugandans have started adopting a surprising array of Western technologies (such as field hospitals, pioneered by Buganda’s neighbors, the North Germans) and local traditions of military deception. (Buganda adopts “Maskirovka and military camouflage”, “Field hospital system”, “Requisition and boarding”, “Supply train regiments” for -3.5 HC, -1.75 IC, -9 EC, -0.25 MC)
Caliph Ahmad I al-Madani al-Kabir at-Tijani of Toucouleur peoples is attempting to re-energize his Jihadist realm in the face of Maghrebian colonial expansion and British colonial instability. (Toucouleur Empire adopts “People’s army”, “Religious and ideological nepotism”, “Solidarist economy”, “Confederate state”, “Gambling ban”, “Zakat welfare” for -32.61 HC, -0.97 IC, -33.38 EC, -1.32 MC)
As Liberia is awash with North-American advisers, assisting The Freedmen’s Council of that country to modernize it for its struggle against Great Britain, a series of drastic reforms took place this year, turning Liberia into the first truly socialist African state, while also removing the policies that rubbed their North-American sponsors the wrong way. (Liberia adopts “People’s army”, “Religious and ideological nepotism”, “Collective ownership”, “Solidarist economy”, “Open class economy”, “Executive committee”, “Unitary state”, “Political police”, “State censorship”, removes “Military slavery”, “Gambling ban” for -26.42 HC, -5.3 IC, -13.72 EC, -0.78 MC)
Military advisors and commandeered officers from the North-American Union also helped t improve the Liberian army’s tactical and logistical acument. (Liberia adopts “Auftragstaktik and command by initiative”, “Army inter-branch coordination”, “Professional military education”, “Military staff system”, “Women’s battalions”, “Battalions of Death and shock troops”, “Divisional structure”, “Independent corps”, “Moving barrage”, “Field trenches” for -12 HC, -13.75 IC, -3.75 EC, -1 MC)
The Free Boer Republic used the relative lull in the war against the British Royal Commonwealth to pass a series of liberating (some say, “libertarian”) economic and social reforms that are intended to ease the war weariness of the general population. (Free Boer Republic adopts “Protectionism”, “Economic mutualism”, “Contest mobility”, “Authoritarian democracy”, removes “Labor unionism” for -569.58 HC, -160.13 IC, -596.63 EC)
The Boers are not the only participants of the Second Atlantic War who are forced to pass a series of reforms just to stay afloat and battle-ready. Their main enemy, Lord-Protector Thomas Bland Strange, has finally been moved by his advisors to adopt a series of drastic measures that saw his favorite Protectorate Ward’s authority diminished in exchange for a number of privileges and protections for the British intelligentsia and organized labor. This, as well as an administrative reform that granted British colonies (now almost cut-off from the metropoly) some degree of autonomy, helped to stabilize the Royal Commonwealth when it seemed to be on the brink of disaster not seen since the end of the First Atlantic War. (British Royal Commonwealth adopts “Limited dictatorship”, “Federate state”, “Organized labor protection”, “Scientific subsidies”, “University stipends”, “Employment equity”, “Labor unionism” for -2076.11 HC, -3284.88 EC)
Another seemingly counterintuitive, but highly necessary measure undertaken by the Lord-Commander of the Royal Commonwealth is shrinking the size of the standing Royal army. As no threats exist for the Albion for the time being, a whole four hundred thousand troops is being disbanded, easing the burden on the British economy and industry. (British Royal Commonwealth: -5 Corps (-maintenance))
Greek libertarian reforms continued, as the country’s recently elected “lean government zealots” continue supporting a minimalist state apparatus that is capable only of implementing mass-deregulation measures across the country in a nation-wide experiment that attracts attention of many foreign and local experts. (Greece adopts “Open class economy”, “Startup economy”, “Contest mobility”, “Gray market economy”, “Anarcho-capitalism”, “Magnate capitalism”, “Economic liberalism”, “Consumer capitalism”, “Commercialism”, “Free trade”, Egalitarian democracy”, “Confederate state”, “Armed citizenry”, “Mercenarism”, “Vice legalization”, “Ad-hoc homeschooling”, removes “Professional military recruitment”, “Classical educations”, “Workday length regulations” for -65.95 HC, -15.38 IC, -25.1 EC, -7.45 MC)
The only type of tax-sponsored agents that proponents of the Greek “New Liberalism” are comfortable recruiting are economists and managers of all types, mostly being local robber barons and nouveau riche self-made men contracted by the government. (Greece: +1 Enterprise, -1 Corps (-20.4 HC, -4.6 IC, -47.8 EC, -27.8 MC))
The Qajar Dynasty of Persia has finally awakened from its slumber, probably thanks to its venerable ruler, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, recovering from a long period of illness and regaining interest to the affairs of the state. Most notable of his reforms were a complete overhaul of the national education system to match the needs of the nation in need of modernization, as well as delegation of some administrative responsibilities of the state to local Shi’a muftis (judges under the traditional Sharia law). (Qajar Persia adopts “Specialized education”, “Zakat welfare”, “Regional state”, “Kritarchy”, “Professional military recruitment”, “Estates-based service”, “University stipends”, removes “Religious education” for -144.79 HC, -1.59 IC. -96.7 EC, -10.49 MC)
The Khan of Khiva, meanwhile, concentrates on establishing a Central-Asian form of Islamic “benevolent despotism,” with prohibition and anti-gambling laws being introduced to the ire of Russia and Siberian traders who visit Khiva and Bukhara on regular basis. Yet, even these disappointed merchants confirm that the Khan is quite popular thanks to his investments in local urban art and support of the poor. (Khiva adopts “Confederate state”, “Gambling ban”, “Prohibition”, “Soup kitchens”, “Art endowment” for -41.98 HC, -117.12 EC, -4 MC)
To the east from Khiva, the Basmachi movement is finally forming a structure resembling a modern state, using Waisi and Basmachi propaganda to bind various Central-Asian ethnicities together. (Basmachi State adopts “Unitary state”, “Mass propaganda” for -24.84 IC)
Some say that the Great Colonial War (known in the Sikh Empire of Indostan as the Great War of Indian Liberation) was long in a making, but now that the formal declarations are out, the Indostani Raj is expanding its military forces, particularly emphasizing the regular land army, Fauj-i-Ain. (Indostan: +5 Corps, +1 Squadron (-167HC, -57 IC, -99.8 EC, -67.9 MC))
The Oriental Renaissance continues sweeping through Asia. In Indostan, a series of industrial achievements have allowed the Sikh nation to catch up with some of the most developed countries of the West in information exchange, transportation, and manufacturing, while the Khalsa army and fleet simultaneously work toward overtaking their British opponents in battlefield tactics. mechanization, and logistics. (Indostan adopts “Telegraphy and telephony”, “Spark-gap radiotransmitters”, “Mechanization of agriculture”, “Gas lighting and shift work”, “Direct electric current”, “Electrified manufacture”, “Integrated railway network”, “Steam carriages”, “Vezdekhod chassis and all-terrain vehicles”, “Semi-automatic small arms”, “Light mortars and infantry support”, “Field hospital system”, “Skeleton crawler and light armored landships”, “Auftragstaktik and command by initiative”, “Battalions of Death and shock troops”, “Blinking light signalling”, “Amphibious operations”, “Naval infantry” for -86.5 HC, -143.75 IC, -268.5 EC, -311.25 MC)
Tibet is undergoing a series of reforms, inspired by that insular theocracy’s Indostani protectors and, surprisingly, their Chinese counterparts from the Heavenly Kingdom. Rumors have it that the reforms are guided by a Buddhist philosopher Agvan Dorzhiyev, a Russo-Siberian subject of Khori-Buryat descent, appointed to be a prime-minister by a newly ascended 13th Dalai Lama, young Thubten Gyatso. (Tibet adopts “Estates-based service”, “Partisan voluntarism”, “Religious and ideological nepotism”, “Offshore outsourcing”, “Solidarist economy”, “Luuhcu oligarchy”, “Autocracy”, “Regional state”, “State censorship”, “Art endowment”, “Orphanage system”, “Soup kitchens”, “Fa-Jia legalist government”, removes “Feudal government” for -52.67 HC, -23.32 IC, -36.24 EC, -7.41 MC)
With tensions in Central and Eastern Asia rising on all sides, Tibetan army is also modernizing in order to be able to repel (or, at least, hold) a potential invasion from the east. (Tibet adops “Maskirovka and military camouflage”, “Field hospital system”, “Fortified districts”, “Divisional structure”, “Independent corps”, “Defense in depth”, “Field trenches”, “Bunker fortresses”, “Dispersed combat tactics”, “Specialized troops”, “Paramilitary organizations” for -22 HC, -3.75 IC, -10.5 EC, -1.5 MC)
While Indostan and its buffer states invest into their army technology, the Third Burmese Empire is concentrating on the extensive development of its armed forces both in land and at sea. (Third Burmese Empire: +3 Corps, +2 Squadrons (-118.2 HC, -40.8 IC, -89 EC, -89.9 MC))
Bound by the terms of the Taiping ultimatum sent last year, the Ma Dynasty is gloomily pushing through a series of administrative changes that cater to various ethnic and class minorities, protecting laborers from ethnic bias by their employers. Liberal observers do say that the ultimatum did cause some positive changes, yet, because the old religious system of education had to go and be replaced by a more specialized, pluralist learning approach, much more useful for the modern times. (Ma Dynasty adopts “Laissez-faire economy”, “Civil conscription”, “Protectionism”, “Labor unionism”, “Specialized education”, “Organized labor protection”, removes “Religious education” for -416.93 HC, -311.74 EC)
As ethnic tensions in Dzungaria and Inner Mongolia are subsiding, so does the Ma-Taiping animosity, letting the Heavenly Kingdom to announce a large disarmament program that seeks to decrease the size of the army and develop a stronger soft power force instead. (Taiping Mandate: +6 Missions (-129 HC, -141 IC, -199.2 EC, -33.6 MC), -11 Corps (-maintenance))
The Taiping army may be getting smaller, but the quality of its armaments and training is growing far beyond anything ever fielded by China. In fact, the weapon imports in the first two quarters of 1894 almost matched the entire industrial production in China, making it’s army one of the most motorized forces in the world (and definitely the most motorized in Asia). Critics of this program, meanwhile, state that the Kings-Under-Heaven should’ve waited for the shrinking of the army size first before starting this grand procurement program, which would’ve allowed them to scope it better. (Taiping Mandate adopts “Nihilism and moral relativity”, “Manga, comics, and sequential art”, “Manga, comics, and sequential art”, “Maskirovka and military camouflage”, “Telescopic sights and modern sniping”, “Field hospital system”, “Battalions of Death and shock troops”, “Auftragstaktik and command by initiative”, “Women’s battalions”, “Fortified districts”, “Mobile gun shields”, “Paramilitary organizations”, “Defense in depth”, “Skeleton crawler and light armored landships”, “Ironclad landships and armored personnel carriers”, “Self-propelled steam cannons”, “Airship reconnaissance”, “Road locomotives”, “Barbed wire”, “Bunker fortresses” for -352 HC, -325.5 IC, -551.5 EC, -401 MC)
Orientalists familiar with Japanese history and social hierarchy might be surprised, but the Shogunate’s recent capitulation to the independence demands of newly created “industrial associations” has eroded the traditional boundaries of class, caste, and service, creating some semblance of socio-economic mobility on the Japanese Isles for the first time in centuries. (Tokugawa Shogunate adopts “Open class economy” for -671.06 HC)
Japanese declaration of war on Great Britain was followed by a burst of administrative activity and mass recruitment programs, as the Bakufu government is using the nation’s mobilization to expand all branches of its power. (Tokugawa Shogunate: +8 Missions, +2 Enterprises, +4 Corps, +4 Squadrons (-324.4 HC, -261.6 IC, -512 EC, -271.4 MC))
Similarly to the Heavenly Kingdom, the Tokugawa Shogunate heavily invested into re-training and rearmament of its obsolete army and navy, albeit for a different reason. Where as the Taiping military reform was aimed at shifting from a large conscript army to a smaller, better equipped standing force, the Shogunate ran its ambitious reforms simply to bring its forces up to the task of fighting Great Britain far away from home. (Tokugawa Shogunate adopts “Cultism and self-devotion”, “Blinking light signaling”, “Brown-water navy”, “Dazzle camouflage”, “Diesel-engine ships”, “Echo-locating devices”, “Electric engines”, “Floating battery”, “Naval airship spotters”, “Naval inter-branch cooperation”, “Oil-engine ships”, “Port strike”, “Snorkel and long-range submarine”, “Submerged attack vessels”, “Unrestricted commerce raiding and submarine warfare”, “Water caterpillars”, “Army inter-branch cooperation”, “Auftragstaktik and command by initiative”, “Barbed wire”, “Bunker fortresses”, “Defense in depth”, “Dispersed combat tactics”, “Field hospital system”, “Field trenches”, “Fortified districts”, “Maskirovka and military camouflage”, “Mobile gun shields”, “Paramilitary organizations”, “Supply train regiments”, “Turret artillery”, “Women’s battalions” for -348 HC, -170 IC, -278.5 EC, -144.5 MC)
As political climate in the State of Deseret is taking much more oppressive undertones, the nation’s President is also expanding the Mormon republic’s administrative and economic assets significantly, as if expecting a foreign benefactor to “cover the tab.” (Deseret: +2 Missions, +2 Enterprises (-49.2 HC, -38.4 IC, -102 EC, -35.4 MC))
As the both of its Pacific-facing neighbors experience a wave of political reforms and innovations, the nation of Deseret is also slowly catching up on “new” artistic movements and slightly more current power-generation technologies. (Deseret adopts “Impressionism and decadent art”, “Expressionism and avant-garde”, “Kinotropy and clack-animation”, “Steam turbines”, “Hydraulic power network”, “Still engine” for -6 IC, -5.5 EC, -9.75 MC)
The Iron Confederacy is slowly progressing from a temporary league of tribal unions to a primitive state, not only formalizing its administrative and political composition, but also developing its own family-based system of education that stretches, for the first time in the First Nations’ history, beyond mere practical skills. (Iron Confederacy adopts “Egalitarian democracy”, “Confederate state”, “Ad-hoc homeschooling” for -52.51 HC, -31.54 EC, -0.44 MC)
The Union’s President Joseph Benson Fouracre solidified his lead ahead of an upcoming election by passing by legislature that has finally cemented North-American labor protection and central government’s superiority. (Union of North America adopts “Organized labor protection”, “Unitary state” for -496.16 HC, -739.82 IC, -725.76 EC)
In the 1880s, the Union of North America was one of the most technologically advanced societies on Earth. Since then, the worn-out country let that status slip from its hands, but in 1894 it has started regaining on the lost leadership. The North-American economy and humanitarian thought are seeing plenty of development, but that change is dwarfed by the wave of tactical and organizational innovations sweeping through the Union’s army and navy. (Union of North America adopts “Investment banking and trust funds”, “Hisbah and venture capital”, “Environmentalism”, “Nihilism and moral relativity”, “Defense in depth”, “Maskirovka and military camouflage”, “Dispersed combat tactics”, “Specialized troops”, “Women’s battalions”, “Auftragstaktik and command by initiative”, “Requisition and boarding”, “Dazzle camouflage”, “Amphibious operations”, “Brown-water navy” for -419.75 HC, -210.25 IC, -211.75 EC)
Being a geopolitical leader of several anti-globalist alliances and simultaneously fully engaged in the Second Atlantic War, the North-American Union is instead turning itself into an “Arsenal of Fraternity,” (quoting President Fouracre himself), providing advisers and supplies for several of its allies.
(Union of North America: -10 IC; Liberia +10 IC)
(Union of North America: -100 IC; Communes of Andes: +100 IC)
(Union of North America: -10 HC, -10 IC, -10 MC; Gran Colombia: +10 HC, +10 IC, +10 MC)
As the Confederate election is drawing near and promises a change in the national leadership, President Stone has thrown all economic cautions to the wind and announced a wide expansion of the CSA’s state apparatus and public contractor companies, perhaps, figuring out that he had nothing to lose and didn’t have to worry about a re-election anymore. (Confederate States of America: +6 Missions, +6 Enterprises (-165.6 HC, -160.2 IC, -409.2 EC, -245.4 MC))
The Dixie culture is being enriched with classical and even traditional Native American heritage, while the Confederation’s industry and army are adjusting to the needs of developing and exploring its vast new colonial possession of Breckinridge (Congo). (Confederate States of America adopts “Traditional art and culture”, “Classicism and the Enlightenment”, “Manga, comics, and sequential art”, “Biologism and evolution theory”, “Hydraulic power network”, “Vaccination”, “Water and land conservation”, “Vezdekhod chassis and all-terrain vehicles”, “Paramilitary organizations”, “Telescopic sights and modern sniping” for -80.5 HC, -64.5 IC, -118 EC, -80.75 MC)
As the CSA is growing more mature as a nation, its previously unspoken traditions and realities of the day are becoming legal, economic, and administrative practices of the state, underlining its huge level of wealth disparity between various classes of its society. (Confederate States of America adopts “Absolutist corporatism”, “Free trade”, “Economic mutualism”, “Ethnic nepotism” for -394.09 HC, -493.26 IC, -171.18 MC)
Confederate popular culture, customs, education, and technical acumen are being widely recognized across the world, helping the CSA to leverage their position in negotiations over mass imports of armaments and mechanical equipment.
(Confederate States of America: -120 IC, +10 MC; Italy: +120 IC, -10 MC)
(Confederate States of America: -180 IC, -504 EC +54 MC; Tokugawa Shogunate: -180 IC, -504 EC, +54 MC)
Confederate President Stone seems to definitely have a grudge at haughty Portobrazilian diplomats, as in the spring of 1894 he authorized a series of international, low-interest loans to a new enemy of the Twin Crowns, the United Communes of the Andes. Besides, some political and economic advisers were sanctioned to travel to the Andes as assistants to the local regime, despite all ideologic disparity that lies in between the two countries. A similar action took place in Gran Colombia, although in this case the assistance was more covert, being performed via some shell companies related to the construction of the Panama Canal. (Confederate States of America: -150 IC, -150 EC; Communes of Andes: +100 IC, +100 EC; Gran Colombia: +50 IC, +50 EC)
With authoritarian scientific progressivism being a cornerstone of the Mexican regime’s ideology, it’s no wonder that innovative small-business ventures are blossoming in the United States of Mexico. (Mexico adopts “Startup economy” for -408.13 HC)
Mexican cientificos continue pushing the country toward greater technological progress in many areas of knowledge, lacking a sense of direction, but not a sense of purpose. (Mexico adopts “Hisbah and venture capital”, “Vaccination”, “Maskirovka and military camouflage” for -2 HC, -8.25 IC, -62.25 EC)
The Centroamerican Federation finalizes its transition from a constellation of indigenous communes to a modern state, capable of protecting itself against a magnate uprising in San-Salvador. (Centroamerica Federation adopts “Religious and ideological nepotism”, “Protectionism”, “Economic statism”, “Open class economy”, “Employment equity”, “Egalitarian democracy”, “State censorship”, “Political police” for -205.61 HC, -57.96 IC, -105.69 EC)
The Andean joining of the Gran-Colombian civil conflict has caused the United Communes to expand their land army and intelligence services. (Communes of the Andes: +2 Missions, +2 Corps (-87.6 HC, -49 IC, -79.2 EC, -21 MC))
Tensions in South America have forced the Gran-Paraguayan leadership to start investing heavily into its own army and navy once again. (Gran Paraguay: +2 Corps, +1 Squadron (-68.2 HC, -25.5 IC, -48.3 EC, -55 MC))
Having found itself under a Gran-Paraguayan umbrella, the Chile-Patagonian Free State was forced to start moving away from its libertarian roots and adopt more and more elements of military rule, as every other retired Gran-Colombian colonel now dreams of starting a political career as a countryside patriarch of a small Patagonian or Chilean rancho community. (Chile-Patagonia adopts “Federate state”, “Egalitarian democracy”, “Stratocratic government”, “Gray market economy”, “Open class economy”, “Solidarist economy”, “Economic statism”, “Protectionism”, “Armed citizenry” for -62.71 HC, -11.58 IC, -45.86 EC, -1.87 MC)
The Empire of Haiti has been incredibly lucky, maneuvering its way between multiple great powers and always remaining a non-threatening friendly neutral ground for all of them. This largely defined the modern Haitian state as a neutral trade hub and an island of open-mindedness in a sea of New World geopolitics. (Haiti adopts “Armed citizenry”, “Offshore outsourcing”, “Commercialism”, “Consumer capitalism”, “Absolutist capitalism”, “Unitary state”, “Multiculturalism”, “Benign neglect”, “Vice legalization”, “Workday length regulations”, “Orphanage system” for -19.68 HC, -7.17 IC, -22.53 EC, -5.57 MC)
Update 6: January 1, 1894 - June 30, 1894
War update
Great Colonial War: Delhi Campaign
Q1-Q2 1894: Relative failures of Operations Geedhay and Paaraata (consisting of tharra smuggling and disruption of British fortification projects by Nihang operatives and their civilian colleagues) put the Indostani planners for the North-Indian campaign in a poor position. Delhi was an obvious goal for any sane plan of attack on the Gangetic plain and through it into Central India, so the British engineers have predictably concentrated the bulk of their defences there, surrounding the great city in three rings of fortifications that covered all major roads and river fords. This made the great sweeping pincer maneuver planned by the Indostani high command as a part of the Operation Dargeh a very ambitious plan indeed. Still, hopes were high, as an enormous amount of effort was put into planning of the operation, and all of the Sikh Empire’s strategic reserves were dedicated to reaching the end goal, the once-capital of the British Raj. Operation Dargeh started with a three-pronged assault by the Fauj Punjab (strong southern flank), the Fauj-i-Khas (center), and the Fauj Ganga (northern flank) against British fortifications at Bahadurgarh, Sonipat, and Najafgarh. At first, the attackers struggled on all directions, as the British forts were quite effective at repelling even the most well-planned advances. However, when the Sikh strategic reserve was committed on May 18 to the attack on Sonipat and Najafgarh, the crucial breakthrough was achieved. On May 24th, the Fauj Ganga under general Gurjant Singh routed British defenders of the Norespur Ford over the Yamuna River, breaking through into the Ganga Yamuna Doab just when the rivers were at their lowest point and effectively becoming the main striking force of Operation Dargeh instead of the Fauj Punjab. General Gurjant Singh’s offensive into the Gangetic Plain, assisted by a simultaneous coup in Nepal, enveloped the British defensives from the north and forced the Royal Army spread its reserves too thinly. That eventually allowed the bloodied forces of the Fauj Punjab and Fauj-i-Khas to penetrate British defenses at Bahadurgarh and then at Gurgaon and Sahdara. Eventually, Delhi was enveloped from all sides, and a grinding urban assault began. Luckily for the British, they never lost control of the critical Tughakabad train station, so even at the worst moments of the siege the city remained supplied through a single railroad, regularly raided by Sikh horsemen and shelled by Indostani artillery, but miraculously never cut off. Still, once the Sikh khaki-dressed soldiers entered the Delhi Cantonment and its railways station, the British garrison’s defensive stance in and around the Red Fort became unsustainable. Spared by the Maharaja’s own order to not bombard the city for the sake of its non-Western inhabitants, the British XVI. Army managed to withdraw via a single railroad, leaving the Sikhs in possession of the Gem of India. To the latter ones’ disappointment, no important documentation and census data was captured with that move, as all offices had been either moved to Bengal or all the way south since the hostilities started earlier last year. Yet, the Sikh Army’s offensive didn’t end there, as several smaller scale attacks took place in Gomati and Jalaun Plains, exploiting the success while the main force recuperated in the Haryana after a bloody campaign. Eventually, a cavalry squadron of Peshawar Lancers entered the gardens of Taj Mahal in front of cinematographic cameras of the Sikh Ministry of Propaganda, establishing the high point of the victorious campaign. (Region Ganges Region gains -2.87% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Indostan gains +22.5% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -22.5% Regional Influence, region Central India loses -0.87% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Indostan gains +25.36% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -25.36% Regional Influence, Indostan losses: -54.26 HC, -17.39 IC, -28.35 EC, -13.04 MC, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -78.69 HC, -26.45 IC, -45.8 EC, -43.54 MC)
Battle of the Doab
Q1-Q2 1894: Literally translated as the “area in the confluence of two rivers,” the word “doab” defines vast plains that lie between great Indian rivers, consisting of fertile floodplains called “khadir” and elevated, drier plateaus named “bangar.” While the Indian subcontinent is a home to many doabs, the biggest one of them, known simply as the Doab, is located in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh just east of Delhi, between the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. It’s a fertile valley with alluvial soils, hosting a multitude of ponds, rivers, and lakes, and featuring the highest population density known anywhere in the world (with most of the peasants, predictably, living in desperate poverty).While the avant-garde Sikh troops under Gurjant Singh have successfully entered some parts of the Doab earlier this year on the backs of the retreating Brits, now the Southwest monsoon is a true unseen enemy of any army that hopes to conquer this rich floodland. Having recovered from earlier defeats, the British hope to halt the Indostani offensive here, as losing the Doab might give the Sikhs and the Burmese a chance to link up their forces, forming a united front and an uninterrupted logistical network stretching from Lahore to Bangkok.
Great Colonial War: Rajasthan Campaign
Q1-Q2 1894: From well before the hostilities began, a Sikh advance into Rajasthan was considered an unlikely and challenging task, mostly because the Indostani troops would have to break through the Aravali Range and cross the Luni River, all the while having their backs pressed against the Thar Desert. As a result, Operation Charan was designed with a particular reliance on speed and alacrity of the attack, aiming to cross the desert with a largely mobile force and then break through in a single weak spot of British defenses, spilling then into the North Mewar Plain. A large army (the Fauj Hamala) was put together, consisting of Sowar cavalry, horse-driven artillery batteries, supply trains half-loaded with fodder for horses, as well as bicycle troops, and specially commissioned civilian steam carriages (which ended up performing rather poorly, as biking through sand dunes was a torture even for most athletic soldiers, and carriages would get consistently stuck in the sand as well, lacking proper dreadnaught wheels). That force, it was hoped, would force-march through the Great Indian Desert and then pierce British defenses at Ratangarh. The choice of the point of initial attack was a bit surprising, as logistically it would have been much easier to attack from the Luni River Delta, where the troops wouldn’t have to fight in and around a myriad of dhoras (sand dunes) of the Thar Desert, but the Sikh high command likely expected Ratangarh defenses to be sabotaged during Operations Geedhay and Paaraata, thus contributing to the element of surprise. And surprise it did bring, but not the kind the Indostani troops expected. The British fortifications in the area were fully completed and manned, so the first assault on Ratangarh was a much bloodier affair than expected, taking two weeks of back-and-forth urban assaults to get a good grip over the city. After that, the fighting briefly continued in the Khetri Hills, but the time window for an effective offensive had ultimately passed by then. Running out of supply to stay on the offensive and still being pressed against the Thar Desert, the Fauj Hamala simply could not continue pressing against the British defenses. Then the Commonwealth’s counterattack came, forcing the Sowars (by now having lost most of their horses) out of the hard-won ruins of Ratangarh and routing them completely. The only thing that saved the Fauj Hamala from being pushed back into the Thar Desert, where it would undoubtedly melt away fighting the elements, was the fall of Delhi in the early June, opening a safe road for a retreat to the north-east. (Region Central India gains -0.44% Regional Growth Fluctuation, British Royal Commonwealth gains +2.55% Regional Influence, Indostan loses -2.55% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -11.9 HC, -4 IC, -6.92 EC, -6.58 MC, Indostan losses: -17.32 HC, -5.55 IC, -9.05 EC, -4.16 MC)
Great Colonial War: Gujarat Campaign
Q1-Q2 1894: The Fauj Rajasthana was tasked with a fairly conservative mission for the campaign of spring-early summer of 1894: capture of Ahmedabad and key crossings over the Sabarmati River, thus securing the Sikh enclave of Gujarat from the north-east. In addition, it was hoped that an attack from the Gujarati plain could divert some British resources from better protected areas of Rajasthan, thus opening an opportunity for the Fauj Hamala to break through and wreak havoc in the British rear. As it became clear early on in the war, the latter part of the plan was not going to succeed, but that didn’t stop the Fauj Rajasthana from reaching its conservative objectives. Early May saw a brief, but bloody struggle for a strategically important bridge over the Sabarmati near Dholka, followed by a week-long battle for Ahmedabad and its Bhadr (the Citadel) itself. Having taken control of that regional infrastructure hub, however, the Sikh forces didn’t see a British withdrawal from the region. Instead, two Royal Highlander divisions of the Commonwealth’s army dug in the Danta and Chota Udaipur hills surrounding the Sabarmati River valley, thus threatening any Sikh advance along that line. Dislodging of these defences took the rest of the campaign, opening the gates to Udaipur to the Fauj Rajasthana. (Region Central India gains -0.76% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Indostan gains +4.43% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -4.43% Regional Influence, Indostan losses: -15.01 HC, -4.81 IC, -7.84 EC, -3.61 MC, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -14.64 HC, -4.92 IC, -8.52 EC, -8.1 MC)
Battle of the Arabian Sea
Q1-Q2 1894: In the beginning of the Great Colonial War, the Royal Commonwealth had barely a few battle-ready ships in the entirety of the Indian Ocean, trusting their then-allies, the Burmese, to patrol that region for them. However, when it became clear that a war for India was inevitable, the Admiralty immediately rushed a fleet to its bases in Bombay and Calcutta, using the armistice with France as a way to move most of the ships and merchant marine via the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal. Still, for a few weeks since the declaration of war came, the British shipping in the Arabian Sea was completely at the mercy of Indostani raiders, which was the period when most of the British cargo losses were suffered. Once better armored, armed, and trained squadrons of British ships started arriving to the region, the Sikh navy started facing first checks and setbacks, having lost a few cruisers in a convoy attack near Cape Gwardafuy in Somalia and in a series of skirmishes over the Carlsberg Ridge. Now that the British fleets are properly rebased, the end of 1894 might finally see a reversal of the Indostani naval gains. (Battle quest progress: 33.33%, Indostan losses: -9.01 HC, -5.73 IC, -14.99 EC, -24.9 MC, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -14.87 HC, -9.81 IC, -22.3 EC, -35.62 MC)
Great Colonial War: Bengal Campaign
Q1-Q2 1894: While the Sikh war plans for the first half of 1894 were all aggressively offensive, the Burmese military leadership didn’t wish to take logistical risks comparable to the Indostani crossing of the Thar Desert (which, indeed, almost cost the Sikh Empire an entire army). As a result, the plan for the Bengal campaign was charted with a strictly defensive attitude, hoping to fix the British in one place and let them exhaust themselves in fruitless assaults, while Indostan did the brunt of the fighting westward. Half of the Third Empire’s navy was also gathered to provide naval support of that unimaginative plan, named by Burmese staff officers Operation Toe-Nayar. Not everyone was happy with such a passive approach to fighting the Brits, though. Admiral Than Pe, a Burmized Arakanese naval officer with plenty of experience and a hero of the battle of the Moscos Island against the Boer Navy, favored an aggressive series of naval landings behind the British lines instead of a cautious shore bombardment duty his fleet was assigned to. His shelling of Haldia on the early days of the campaign was the first probing effort in such naval action, but it solicited a strong British response from the Ceylon Fleet, resulting in an indecisive naval action in the Ganges Fan on April 29. Having been checked in his ambitious plan, Than Pe fell back to compromise plan of doing a series of supporting naval actions and landings in the Ganges Delta. Eventually, his monitors successfully broke into the Meghna River, but were stopped by their British counterparts short of Mehendiganj in a brief naval scramble. Still, even failing to penetrate deeply into the vast network of the Ganges’ tributaries, Than Pe’s fleet’s action did secure the islands of the Ganges delta for Burmese naval landings (performed, naturally, by Arakanese and Mon brigades that were familiar with naval warfare, unlike the actual Burmese troops that lacked any such tradition). While Admiral Than Pe enjoyed his humble victories, the rest of the Anglo-Burmese front was largely quiet, with very few exceptions. Both armies were equally matched in terms of size, although the British enjoyed some superiority in heavier weaponry. Seeing that the enemy didn’t wish to advance and seeing no point at wasting the precious manpower in fighting for the Assamese jungles, the British chief commander in the region, General Matthew Rawlins decided to give his troops some limited morale boost by adopting a “bite and hold” strategy. This approach was based on limited scale attacks in the areas of the theater of war where a British advance was relatively easy, aimed mostly for very limited tactical gains and simple victories with no major operational implications. Such were the battles of Boko and Jailoh in Meghalaya, as well as the Udaipur offensive. All in all, the campaign of Bengal proved to be rather tame and uneventful, as both armies’ logistics was strained, and most of the losses suffered by the both sides were attributed to attrition and sickness rather than combat. (Region Ganges Region gains -0.37% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Third Burmese Empire gains +2.86% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -2.86% Regional Influence, Third Burmese Empire losses: -46.35 HC, -15.31 IC, -32.34 EC, -30.79 MC, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -34.5 HC, -15.56 IC, -31.32 EC, -41.65 MC)
Great Colonial War: Papua-Melanesian Campaign
Q1-Q2 1894: The Tokugawa Shogunate’s plan for the first part of 1894 in the South Seas (the Pacific Ocean) could roughly be divided into two stages. First, breaking through the line of British defenses in the Papua Island and British Melanesia, and, secondly, directly attacking Australia. The stratagem was very risky, considering the distances from home at which the navy and the army would have to operate. Still, the mood in the Bakufu’s supreme command was optimistic, as the British colonial empire was perceived virtually undefended. While that confidence wasn’t completely unfounded, the Royal Commonwealth was informed of the incoming storm by their Australian and New-Zealander governor-generals who had been previously approached by an unnamed third party and warned of the Japanese threat in exchange for some flips of loyalty. The general-governors’ call for help was answered, when garrison divisions and coastal guard brigades were formed in the Commonwealth’s Asian possessions and shipped to Australian and Oceania just in time for the Japanese invasion. Without the Royal Navy’s support, these garrisons possessed minimal mobility, but they were quite capable of denying the Shogunate easy landings - as long as the Pacific Ocean wasn’t entirely Japanese, that is. Another miscalculation on Japan’s part was in the supreme command’s expectation of a quick re-equipment and retraining of the entire military. In reality, the rearmament program was still in progress when the operations started, and wouldn’t be nearing completion until the middle of 1894. That meant that the troops fighting the Royal army (which itself hadn’t seen any improvements since the end of the First Atlantic War more than a decade ago) were equipped and trained, at times, even somewhat worse than the army that won the Boshin War for the Tokugawa clan. Finally, making the Japanese situation worse, the Melanesian command was one of a few examples when the Shogun’s attempt to combat petty factionalism among his servants went rogue. The “command matrix” of inter-branch coordination wasn’t truly embraced by either the army or the navy, and the naval commander in the area felt that his force, responsible for taking hold of the entire Melanesian perimeter, was horribly understaffed, while doing the bulk of the work, while his taskforce superior, an army general, had a simple goal with an overabundance of resources. This led to a very poor performance by the Melanesian naval squadron, which attempted unenthusiastic landings on the Nauru, Malaita, and New Britain islands, only to see the navy’s Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai (Special Naval Landing Forces) beaten rather handedly by the British island garrisons. Meanwhile, in the Papua island, a disaster of another sort was playing out. More than one hundred thousand of Shogunate infantry was gathered in the Tokugawa colonial possession of Madanga (Madang) for an upcoming offensive against British-held towns of Lae and Port Moresby. That concentration of troops was greatly surpassing Japan’s ability to logistically support in the region, especially considering the horrible conditions on the ground. Still undeterred, the task force commander chose to proceed and start an offensive on Lae along the Markham River valley and across the Eastern Highlands of the Bismarck Range. However, with the navy struggling to achieve success in Melanesia, the army had to first make its way through the malaria-breeding jungles. If the valley expedition suffered losses only to disease and the elements, in the Bismarck Range the Japanese had to recon with a consequence of one of their earlier decisions. In 1893, several vicious tribes of Papua headhunters were squeezed out of Japanese Madanga into the formally British territory, and now these “savages” were ambushing the exhausted Shogunate infantry along the jungle trails. Who didn’t die to the highlanders’ darts, jungle miasma, and nightly swarms of man-eating ants, had to face a wall of British machine gun fire at the battles of Nadzab and Mumeng, ending the fighting part of the campaign in mere two and a half weeks. That was followed by a long retreat across the very same landscape the army had just crossed, making sure that most of the losses in the campaign were suffered by the Japanese to attrition rather than the enemy. Throughout the entire operation, the British army didn’t even try to gain a single square foot of an enemy ground, but the sheer word of the Tokugawa resounding defeat helped to crush several informal political alliances and black market trade deals made by “British-protected” Polynesian chieftains with the Japanese agents earlier that year. (Region Australia-Oceania gains -2.36% Regional Growth Fluctuation, British Royal Commonwealth gains +7.65% Regional Influence, Tokugawa Shogunate loses -4.01% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -11.94 HC, -4.01 IC, -6.95 EC, -6.61 MC, Tokugawa Shogunate losses: -26.33 HC, -6.36 IC, -14.35 EC, -8.29 MC)
Great Colonial War: Australian Campaign
Q1-Q2 1894: Tokugawa plans for Australia were heavily dependent on a success of two major operations: creating a successful movement for Australian independence and piercing the British strategic defensive perimeter in Melanesia. Both of these endeavors failed to bring expected results, as the Great Penal Rebellion collapsed into a disjointed series of localized penal uprisings and the Papua campaign ended in a shameful disaster. Therefore, all the troops the Shogunate prepared to deploy to Australia once first beachheads are taken had to patiently wait in the Philippines for the entire half-a-year. Lacking their backup, a single squadron of the Shogunate navy attempted to pull off a miracle and land in Darwin, beyond its logistical range. However, the Rikusentai were outmatched and outnumbered by the British coastal garrison, even despite the latter also being overstretched and distracted with penal rebellions in the rear. After a few bloody assaults on coastal forts, the siege of Darwin became a quiet affair, and eventually the Rikusentai withdrew from the fortified beaches under the cover of their warships, ending the campaign with no territorial gains for either side. However, this humiliation, just like the one suffered by the Shogunate in the Papua Island, helped to break down some secret agreements between Tokugawa agents and “pro-British” Polynesian chiefs, dismantling the achievements of the Kempeitai had achieved in the Pacific theater earlier that year. (Region Australia-Oceania gains -0.75% Regional Growth Fluctuation, British Royal Commonwealth gains +2.44% Regional Influence, Tokugawa Shogunate loses -2.44% Regional Influence, Tokugawa Shogunate losses: -4.8 HC, -3 IC, -6.49 EC, -10.09 MC, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -4.21 HC, -1.41 IC, -2.45 EC, -2.33 MC)
Battle of the South Seas
Q1-Q2 1894: When the war against the Great Britain was formally declared, the Shogunate’s naval leadership expected to fight the biggest fleet on the globe using its recently developed “kantai kessen” strategy, drawing the overstretched and overly ambitious foe into the depth of the Japanese network of naval bases and then striking on the Royal Navy with all its power. A risk of being outmatched in equipment was real, because a naval outfitting program was still in full swing on the Japanese Isles, and quite a few modern warships were still finishing their construction in the Japanese shipyards. What the Tokugawa admirals didn’t know, was that the British Royal Commonwealth had no warships to spare for the Pacific, betting everything on winning the Atlantic Ocean back from the North-Americans. As a result, it wasn’t until early March that the Shogunate’s navy really started to venture deep into the British waters of the South Seas (as the ocean is known to the Japanese). Finally, all cautions were thrown to the wind, and a true sea lane interdiction campaign started - at least, to a degree that the still obsolete Japanese navy could perform it. Giving the colossal distances involved, it the progress was rather slow even despite virtually no resistance on the part of the British navy, and the only losses suffered in the “Battle of the South Seas” were those of time, labor, and materiel, as the Shogun’s warships struggle to project the Rising Sun’s power beyond its colonial sphere. (Battle quest progress: 48.1%, Tokugawa Shogunate losses: -8.57 HC, -5.36 IC, -11.61 EC, -18.04 MC)
Second Atlantic War: Nova Scotia Campaign
Q1-Q2 1894: As the Royal Commonwealth prepared for what it saw as holding down the beachhead from which a furious Lord-Protector planned to launch his crusade of Canadian liberation, the Union’s leadership had a much more realistic view of the campaign at hand. Finally, President Fouracre indulged his HQ and listened to their logistical considerations. This meant that instead of amassing all troops in infrastructurally ramshackled Canada, the Union Army was going to keep only a limited army presence in Nova Scotia while preparing its best forces to assault the Isthmus of Chignecto in several echelons. As a result, for the first time in the entire war the North-American soldiers didn’t have to suffer from logistical difficulties and enjoyed, generally, significantly better conditions than their counterparts under General Ashmore. In fact, the Royal troops were starting to suffer from starvation and shortages of ammunition, and their day-to-day conditions of living were miserable, as the entirety of Nova Scotia had a population slightly smaller than the army that was crammed into it (unbeknownst to them, their supply situation would get only worse by May, when the Grand Banks campaign would come to its disastrous conclusion). All in all, the Nova Scotia campaign could be divided into two distinct parts: the early stage (lasting until April 4th), consisting of small-scale fighting and probing artillery exchanges around the Isthmus, and late and more decisive stage (from April 4th until June 11th), that will be known in history as the Battle for the Isthmus. While the latter one deserves its own report, the former one was mostly favoring the North-Americans, as their surplus of artillery shells and ability to rotate troops between the attacks meant that the British could not establish a long-lasting line of trenches, and their counter-attacks mostly failed due to North-American standing barrages. Eventually they were pushed iteratively further and further into the Nova Scotia peninsula, until General Ashmore managed to anchor his defenses in a line between Truro and New Glasgow, where the final assault would meet him and his army in early April. (Regional Growth Fluctuation -0.79%, Union of North America gains +2.53% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -2.53% Regional Influence, Union of North America losses: -4.85 HC, -1.76 IC, -2.81 EC, -3 MC, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -6.51 HC, -2.19 IC, -3.79 EC, -3.6 MC)
The Grand Banks campaign
Spoiler :
Q1-Q2 1894: The peace treaty of Luxemburg between France and the Anti-Communard Coalition put Admiral Dewey and his fleet based in Brest into a strange situation. They could claim a cover of neutral port for as long as they wished, but they couldn’t operate from any French port against the British. An attempt to forge some sort of a diplomatic deal with the Possibilist French government almost led to a renewal of hostilities by the North-Germans and Austrobavarians, and by January 20th Dewey and his force were asked to either stay in Brest for the rest of the Atlantic War or leave it once and for all. To the North-American admiral, this meant a long and dangerous voyage to Bermuda under a treat of interception by his nemesis, British Admiral Hornby. This prediction proved to be correct pretty soon, as British armored cruisers were spotted by Dewey’s fleet mere five days after leaving the harbor. A series of indecisive, open sea actions followed on February 18th and March 2nd, intersected by constant attacks by British commerce raiders on Dewey’s screens or damaged ships. However, unlike with the Battle of the Armorican Seamount in late 1893, Hornby couldn’t force his opponent to take a decisive engagement the Brits were accustomed to, and the Royal Navy proved to be rather inexperienced in prolonged raiding campaigns. Eventually, Dewey reached the radius of operation of North-American raiders and ocean-going submarines stationed on Bermuda Island, forcing Admiral Hornby, who lacked a submerged fleet of his own, to recall the operation. All in all, the campaign, nicknamed by the British “the Hunt for Dewey,” let both sides with comparable losses, but the repair and replenishing that Dewey’s fleet had to undergo in Bermuda left the rest of the Union’s navy slightly outnumbered in the most decisive phase of the Battle of the Grand Banks. (Battle quest progress: 39.05%, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -26.91 HC, -17.75 IC, -40.36 EC, -64.46 MC, Union of North America losses: -18.86 HC, -17.21 IC, -44.75 EC, -59.56 MC)
With a more operationally experienced Dewey rescuing one third of the North-American navy from its uneasy European entanglement, the completion of the Grand Banks campaign was entrusted to Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan. Knowing that the Union’s navy was outnumbered in this section of the Atlantic, Mahan was confident that a more patient and calculated approach was needed to win the control of that naval region. The first advantage the Union’s navy had over the British was its proximity to its bases in Maine and Bermuda, meaning that the enemy could never know where the main bulk of the North-American force was concentrated, but the North-Americans knew exactly where to intercept their opponent. Secondly, the North-American navy, always a force to be reckoned with, had undergone a serious transformation in the nine months prior to that, becoming, perhaps, the best-equipped and best-trained naval force in the world. This advantage was particularly startling in the area of sea lane interdiction and submarine warfare, which was especially critical in a campaign that required to starve the British Nova-Scotian garrison of supplies. At first, Mahan planned to raid British convoys while patiently waiting for Dewey’s arrival in later March. However, when the word of how damaged Dewey’s fleet was finally arrived to Portland from Bermuda, Mahan knew that he had to act boldly in order to bring the Canadian war to a sure end. His plan was to concentrate the entire North Atlantic Fleet under his command and make a sortie toward Halifax, thus threatening the enemy with a decisive battle. He then planned to retreat and repeat the ruse a few more times throughout the campaign, each time forcing the British to concentrate more warships on protecting the Halifax Harbor from infamous North-American port strikes than on escorting their convoys. Meanwhile, Mahan argued, his submarines and above-surface commerce raiders would do enough damage to the British merchant marine to starve the British army on land. That plan was working through the first five weeks of its execution, until a mere luck brough Mahan and the core of the British Northern Fleet together in a battle of Scotian Shelf. As it turned out, the British were themselves looking for a decisive engagement, as they needed it in order to turn the tables in their increasingly desperate struggle to keep the Canadian army fighting. That engagement, however, turned completely into the North-American favor, as their forward cruisers, equipped with newly invented telemobiloscopes, spotted the spread-out British double column in the foggy weather long before the British were aware of their enemy’s proximity. Soon, Mahan’s entire force opened overwhelming saturation fire (another new joker in their sleeve) on the leading ships of the British dispersed formation. By 4.20 pm, some sort of battle order was regained by the Royal Navy, but even that couldn’t help to turn the tide of this titanic battle, as the newest North-American capital warships, built upon the all-or-nothing armoring concept, soaked up most of the British counter-fire without receiving critical damage. By the dusk, the second largest naval battle in history to that point was over, and the winner was obvious to all. With the remnants of the Royal North Fleet being forced to return to the Albion or (in some more desperate cases) to Halifax, the entire British convoy system in that part of the Atlantic was left virtually unguarded, cutting British Canada from the metropoly once and for all. Some desperate attempts to evacuate the remainders of General Ashmore’s army were made, but they were only partially successful, as every other troop transport would meet its end from a North-American submerged attack vessel or diesel corvette, sending thousands of souls to the bottom of the sea. (Battle quest completed with full success, British Royal Commonwealth: -2 Squadrons, -1 Corps, -200 HC, -80 IC, -500 EC, -30 MC, British troops in North America receive -1 CR penalty, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -56.38 HC, -37.19 IC, -84.56 EC, -135.07 MC, Union of North America losses: -31.94 HC, -29.15 IC, -75.8 EC, -100.89 MC)
Battle of the Isthmus
Spoiler :
Q1-Q2 1894: The report of the costly victory in the battle of the Nova Scotia Shelf reached the North-American high command, it became clear that the original plan of performing a multitude of amphibious landings in the British rear was no longer feasible, as Mahan’s triumphant fleet was in no shape to provide a required cover and support for such risky operations. The good news was that Ashmore’s army was no virtually cut-off from the rest of the Royal Commonwealth, and speculations were made that now the Brits would attempt to evacuate it by sea. Therefore, a straightforward, but methodical offensive operation was proposed, taking advantage of the Union’s advantage in all types of materiel and supply. April 4th became the first day of the North-American attack on the Truro-New Glasgow fortification line. After a week-long artillery barrage and nine more days of sluggish advance measured at times in yards rather than miles, Ashmore’s defenses finally collapsed in a critical point around Truro, opening a direct road toward Halifax. Ashmore managed to pull off a miracle once again, stopping the North-Americans just a dozen miles away from the port city, and an order was issued for the remainders of the British army to pull back to Halifax for evacuation. A new temporary defense position was established on a line Dartmouth-Sackville-Three Mile-Hantsport (leaving Halifax still within the reach of North-American artillery), but almost a quarter of the British contingent got trapped in Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island, lacking big ports for re-supply or evacuation. While the Union troops mopped up the north and hauled their heavy artillery for the final advance on Halifax, Ashmore managed to evacuate a half of his remaining force, leaving most of the wounded, along with a few volunteers and a local Nova-Scotian regiment to hold the North-Americans. By May 19th, the final storm of Halifax was in the full swing, and wounded Ashmore was persuaded to leave the continent with the last transport. Remainers of his force would retreat to Annapolis Valley, where they would surrender to the enemy, leaving Canada entirely in the hands of the Union and its allies. (Battle quest completed with full success, region Atlantic Canada-Quebec gains -0.5% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Union of North America gains +2.88% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -2.88% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth: -2 Corps, -100 IC, Union of North America losses: -21.33 HC, -7.73 IC, -12.37 EC, -13.19 MC, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -36.92 HC, -12.41 IC, -21.48 EC, -20.43 MC)
Second Atlantic War: Liberia Campaign
Q1-Q2 1894: In a year of disasters and failures, the Liberian campaign of the first half of 1894 was the only bright spot. War was not supposed to come to the British holdings in West Africa in the first place, and if some violence was expected, it was envision as a Jihad by the Toucouleur Empire (thus, a fortification improvement project financed by the Commonwealth in 1891 concentrated in protecting Massina from the northern and northeastern directions). However, when France capitulated in Europe and the Second Atlantic War became a solely one-on-one matchup between the North-American Union and Great Britain, President Fouracre and his State Department started looking for allies in different regions of the world. Liberia, a nation founded by the Union’s predecessor, the United States of America, was a natural choice. Thousands of advisers and officers of African-American descent were sent to this African country to help bring its army and economy into a war-ready state, while a special African Expeditionary Corps of the Union Army was secretly shipped to Liberia and assembled there as a support for the local troops. The army retraining program was still underway in the first months of 1894, when Liberian President Joseph James Cheeseman started experiencing a lot of pressure from the North-American diplomacy to finally declare his joining of the Second Atlantic War on the Union’s side. Given the intelligence information about the upcoming Asian conflict he was provided with, the war promised to be an easy walk for the young nation. A plan was drawn, simply ordering the North-American troops to advance into British Sierra Leone and the hills of British Guinea, while the Liberian army (still undergoing its re-equipment and re-training) would push into the forests and savannah of the Ivory Coast. The division line between the two forces’ operational theaters was laid along the St. John River and the Nimba Mountain Range. On the British side, however, preparations were also underway. The North-American transfer of advisers in 1893 was noted by the Secret Ward, and a transfer of troops was also expected. Therefore, even as the Royal Commonwealth struggled to redeploy enough troops to India and its Pacific possessions, a battle-ready army or a reasonable size was still kept in Mali at all times. This meant that, when the declaration of war came in late January 1894, the Union and its ally had no element of surprise on their side. Quickly, the drastic difference between the African Expeditionary Corps’ performance and its Liberian partners became apparent. The North-Americans broke through the British hill defenses and advanced to Nzerekore, Macenta, and Gueckedou in Guinea, but were soon stopped by their British counterparts. In Sierra Leone, they easily reached the Moa river, but couldn’t take a critical bridge crossing at Kanema. Despite these limited successes in the west, the eastern offensive was collapsing in on itself. An attack on the British positions in Grand Gedeh quickly stalled and was repelled, and by March 4th the Brits outsmarted their enemy and pierced the Liberian right flank, crossed the Cavala river, leading to a capture of a logistically critical port city of Harper on March 18th. This sent the entire Liberian force (still learning the lessons of modern war from their advisers) into disarray. The British counter-attack in Grand Gedeh was briefly stopped in the Putu Hill Range, but the Commonwealth army again broke their flanks (this time in the north, at Zewdu) and the subsequent British offensive kicked the Liberians out of the Grand Kru, Sinoe, Nimba, and Rivercess regions, until it ran out of breath upon a successful capture of another strategically important port of Buchanan. Seeing the collapse of the East and being counter-attacked by the regrouped British in the west, the African Expeditionary Corps was forced to give up all previously gained territory and return to their starting positions. That’s where they helped to regroup the Liberian army and organized a defensive perimeter along the Mono and St. John rivers, with northern frontlines going through the Kpo, Bong, and Nimba Mountain Ranges. In Chicago, the news of the Liberian campaign were received with dismay. President Fouracre, whose popularity was stellar upon the Canadian triumph, was timidly, but still vocally criticized for his African entanglement. The battles of the Isthmus and the Nova Scotian Shelf, his critics said, could be perfect stopping points of the war, giving the British diplomacy literally no leverage over their North-American counterparts. Now, it seems, an entire corps of the North-American army has become a hostage in the negotiations with the Royal Commonwealth, giving the British at least some minor card to play in the peace negotiations that are likely to start soon. More hawkish defenders of the President, however, point out that the refitting of the Liberian army is nearing its completion, and the remainders of the year may show that “Fortress Liberia” is not such an easy nut to crack, after all. (Region Greater Mali gains -1.64% Regional Growth Fluctuation, British Royal Commonwealth gains +6.38% Regional Influence, Liberia loses -6.38% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth losses: -9.99 HC, -3.36 IC, -5.81 EC, -5.53 MC, Union of North America losses: -6.79 HC, -2.46 IC, -3.94 EC, -4.2 MC, Liberia losses: -5.82 HC, -0.84 IC, -2.6 EC, -0.38 MC)
Gran-Colombian War of Independence: Colombian Campaign
Q1-Q2 1894: As the Gran-Colombian War of Independence escalated, it also split into a conventional military conflict and a series of loosely connected partisan campaigns taking place simultaneously in various parts of the region. The main focus of the former, for the Twin Crowns of Portugal-Brazil, was extinguishing the fire of the rebellion in the heart of the former Kingdom of Gran Colombia. Having learned on the mistakes of the earlier campaigns, the Portobrazilian high command reduced the number of frontline units and also provided them with a significant logistical assistance. In the end, it was the engineer units and construction brigades that suffered the higher loss rate in personnel and materiel on the Portobrazilian side, as they not only had to work on supply throughput in hellish conditions of Colombian jungles, but also were prime targets for various partisan groups. Partially, to ease the burden on the logistical units, the Portobrazilian supreme leadership also drew plans to capture key Caribbean ports of Gran Colombia (such as Barranquilla, Santa Marta, and Cartagena) via naval landings, being clearly superior to the Gran-Colombian Republican Navy. As for the Republican forces, their general plan was neutrally defensive, drawn with a clear realization of inferiority in quality of training and equipment, but with realization of possessing a better morale and logistics. As a result, the Colombian campaign of January-June 1894 was a sluggish push of individual Portobrazilian divisions through the jungles of San Lucas and La Macarena Mountains. Eventually, the Portobrazilian offensive did bring them to the outskirts of Medellin, but the Republican army stopped them there in a thirteen-day counter-offensive that seems to have exhausted all of the Gran-Colombian reserves. That allowed the Twin Crowns’ army to capture an important infrastructure hub of Neiva in the upper flow of the Magdalena river, followed by a successful assault of Magangue in the north. That last attack was not an independent offensive, but rather the army’s attempt to support a larger amphibious invasion taking place west of Maracaibo. The naval assault turned out to be the critical part of the campaign, because it not only suppressed the feeble Gran-Colombian squadron operating in the Caribbean Sea, but also forced the Republican forces to give up almost the entire northern shoreline. After Barranquilla fell to the Portobrazilian Fuzileiros Navais (marine riflemen), Maracaibo was captured without a fight, and Santa Marta capitulated after a naval raid and a threat of envelopment of the local Republican garrison. The only bright spot in the naval campaign for the Gran-Colombians (besides its soldiers’ heroism) was the fact that the port of Cartagena remained under their control after a Portobrazilian attempt to break out from the Panama enclave failed. By the middle of the year, the Republic of Gran Colombia controlled only a thin stretch of land from Cartagena in the north to Ecuadorian highlands in the south, being able to supply a frontline army only thanks to a logistical line running (north to south) through Monteria, Medellin, Pereira, Kali, and Pasto. (Region Gran Colombia gains -3.49% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Portugal-Brazil gains +15.01% Regional Influence, Gran Colombia loses -15.01% Regional Influence, Gran Colombia losses:-19.91 HC, -5.13 IC, -12.71 EC, -9.44 MC, Portugal-Brazil losses: -21.48 HC, -7.68 IC, -17.17 EC, -16.82 MC)
Siege of Cartagena
Q1-Q2 1894: Truth be told, the Gran-Colombian army is vulnerable to a breakthrough in virtually any spot along its overstretched frontline due to a vital supply line running north-to-south just a few dozen kilometers behind their positions. However, out of all possible transportation hubs, the Caribbean port city of Cartagena stands out as the only remaining northern port capable of receiving support from North-American members of the Monroe Conference bloc. Threatened from the south-east by the Portobrazilian army and from the west by the Twin Crowns’ fleet and naval infantry, this important port must be held by the Gran-Colombians at all cost if they wish to keep the Republic alive for much longer. Known as Cartagena de Indias (Cartagena of the Indias) during the Spanish colonial rule, this ancient town was bestowed a title of the “Heroic City” by Simon Bolivar the Liberator himself after it was captured by a patriot army and navy from the Spanish royalists 1821. Now, however, Cartagena may have to stand up to its name once again.
Gran-Colombian War of Independence: Ecuadorian Campaign
Q1-Q2 1894: Perhaps, realizing their People’s Army’s inferiority in quality of training, the Andean Communal War Committee attempted to concentrate its military operations on various insurgency actions in various areas of Ecuador, Gran Colombia, and even Portobrazilian Amazonia. However, there was no denial that the Gran-Colombian Republican army couldn’t withstand the Portobrazilian onslaught on its own along the entire front, so at least some conventional military action had to take place. And that action was going to be grand - at least in the eyes of the War Committee. The Andean war planners envisioned an aggressive and opportunistic offensive in Ecuador and past the southern flank of the Portobrazilian army in Colombian highlands. In order to achieve that goal, the Andeans planned to employ their airship collectives that, as the generals dreamed, would haul supply and materiel for the marching army. The reality, however, proved to be more harsh. The civilian blimps were virtually useless for heavy military cargo, and the landscape of the Northern Andes naturally favored defense over offense in a conventional campaign. It meant that the original army march from Peru through the Cordillera De Cutucu mountains was virtually lacking any resistance from the Portobrazilians, but by the time Cordillera De Galeras was reached, the Twin Crowns’ troops were already setting their machine gun nests in the mountain passes. Late March and April saw plenty of one-sided, bloody, and unsuccessful attacks by the Andeans along the Napa river, and when the War Committee chose to redirect the main push to the south, into the Costa region, a disaster struck. The logistical support of that offensive was supposed to be provided the a lone squadron of the Andean Communal Navy, but the Portobrazilian Admiralty had predicted that move earlier that year, having sent a naval detachment across the southern tip of the continent with an order to capture of blockade the Pacific coast of Gran Colombia. As the news of the Andean declaration of war were received by the fleet commander in late March, the Portobrazilian ships quickly reoriented themselves to a convoy hunt. The latter action wasn’t supposed to be easy for them, as their bases were too far away, but the fleet commander, Duke João de Castro Pamplona, 8th Count of Resende, demonstrated what Portobrazilian seahawks could do with a fleet of “land rats.” The Andean merchant marine was easily picked on and decimated, and the Andean attempt to give the enemy an open battle during a defense of a convoy resulted in an embarrassing loss in the Battle of Isla Puna in the Gulf of Guayaquil. De Castro Pamplona wouldn’t stop there and follow up on that success with an incredibly risky naval landing on the Santa Helena Peninsula (a task performed by armed seamen, as the squadron wasn’t expected to act as an invasion force and therefore had only a few naval infantry units). This bold move gained the Portobrazilians the city of Guayaquil, threatening the Andean land offensive’s left flank and eventually forcing them to retreat and even leave Quito to the enemy. That concluded the active phase of the Ecuadorian conventional campaign, forcing the Andeans to seek success in various partisan actions across the region instead. (Region North Andes Region gains -2.05% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Portugal-Brazil gains +8.81% Regional Influence, Gran Colombia loses -8.81% Regional Influence, Portugal-Brazil losses: -13.93 HC, -5.23 IC, -9.38 EC, -10.44 MC, Communes of the Andes losses: -27.39 HC, -7 IC, -16.26 EC, -13.78 MC)
