Q3 1895-Q2 1896:
After yet another six months of indecisive warfare on land and at sea, President Fouracre of the North American Union finally started to feel internal pressure to resolve the conflict he’d started while the UNA was still in a strong enough negotiating position. Yet, North-American, Mexican, and Andean failures to bring Gran Colombia to a fold of the Monroe Conference Bloc meant that the negotiations largely revolved around the same gains that the North-Americans were going to get almost a year ago, before the escalation of hostilities with Portugal-Brazil. Still, the de-facto independence of Quebec was admitted de-jure by Great Britain, and all of the territory, minus the island of Bermuda, that the North-Americans occupied during the war were also transferred to the Union. Meanwhile, the Andean gains from their participation in the grueling Gran-Colombian conflict were much more humble and included southern Ecuador up to the line Los Frailes Beach - Pueblo Viejo Canton - Santiago - Huamboya. Liberia was given freedom from the British occupation and restored, but is now expected to be in a poor administrative state, due to the most of its administration and state apparatus wiped out. President Schönberg’s cabinet of the Free Boer Republic, shockingly, agreed to withdraw from Portobrazilian African colonies without any territorial transfers, merely accepting humble reparations from Portugal-Brazil, immediately spurring a major internal crisis (which was soon followed by similar events on the other side of the Atlantic. As for Mexico, its gains from the conflict were reduced to a naught, as all signatories of the Treaty of Montreal, except Portugal-Brazil, were bound to not intervening in internal Gran-Colombian affairs, essentially solidifying the Twin Crowns’ grip over the region.
(Region Caribbean Region: British Royal Commonwealth gains +0.25% Regional Influence, Union of North America loses -0.25% Regional Influence)
(Region Greater Mali: Liberia gains +10% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -10% Regional Influence)
(Region Gran Colombia gains -0.75% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Portugal-Brazil gains +0.25% Regional Influence, Mexico loses -0.25% Regional Influence)
(Region North Andes Region: Communes of the Andes gains +3.37% Regional Influence, Portugal-Brazil loses -3.37% Regional Influence)
(Region Congo-Gabon Region: Portugal-Brazil gains +17.04% Regional Influence, Free Boer Republic loses -17.04% Regional Influence)
(Region East Africa: Portugal-Brazil gains +21.18% Regional Influence, Free Boer Republic loses -21.18% Regional Influence)
(Portugal-Brazil: -100 HC, -25 IC, -25 EC, -12.5 MC; Free Boer Republic: +100 HC, +25 IC, +25 EC, +12.5 MC)
The negotiations that eventually led to the Treaty of Montreal might not have happened without the both sides being aware that negotiations of a similar kind were taking place in the newly Chinese city of Hong Kong between the British Royal Commonwealth and the members of the Thale Noi Lake Treaty Pact. Just like in the Americas, the British territorial losses were significant, compared to the pre-war period, but, simultaneously, the Commonwealth’s negotiators pulled off a diplomatic miracle by conceding merely what they did, considering the flow of the war. On the other side, all members of the “Asiatic Pact” except the Tokugawa Shogunate were happy to end the hostilities as soon as possible, given the strain that their young economies were under. For Indostan, the war was a triumph of arms and spirit, with the most of the Gangetic Plain from Madhya Pradesh to Bihar being given to them, as well as Rajasthan, Malwa, and Orissa. The Konbaung dynasty, already playing a complex balancing act to hold a multilingual and multiconfessional empire together, gave up on some of the occupied territories and settled on gaining “only” Tripura, the Khasi States, and the gem of British India, the region of Bengal. In addition, the Third Empire secured independence for a friendly, peaceful Sinhalese monarchy of Sri-Lanka (proceeding to set dynastic ties with the Theravada Buddhist Dharmapala lineage by betrothing a Konbaung princess to king Anagarika I of Sri Lanka). The kingdom, while decidedly neutral, was guaranteed in its independence by the North German Federation, the only relatively impartial regional player that the Burmese trusted. As for the Tokugawa Shogunate, its gains in the war included the entirety of the British possessions in the Southern Seas (Pacific Ocean) outside of Australia and New Zealand, as well as the naval bases on the Cocos and Christmas islands. With the signing of the treaty of Hong Kong, the world finally returned to peace in our time!
(Region Ganges Region: Third Burmese Empire gains +10% Regional Influence, Indostan loses -10% Regional Influence)
(Region Central India gains -0.5% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Indostan gains +3.16% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth gains +10.03% Regional Influence, Third Burmese Empire loses -13.19% Regional Influence)
(Region South India gains -1% Regional Growth Fluctuation, Sri Lanka gains +10% Regional Influence, North German Federation gains +0.25% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -10.25% Regional Influence)
(Region Asian Pacific Islands: Tokugawa Shogunate gains +0.25% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -0.25% Regional Influence)
(Region Australia-Oceania: Tokugawa Shogunate gains +3.22% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -3.22% Regional Influence)
A series of conflicts around the British colonial empire and its sphere of influence have come to a conclusion, and now all participants of this first truly world-spanning, multisided war are demobilizing their armies and return their economies to a pace-time footing. (British Royal Commonwealth removes “Military mobilization (mid term)”, “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Sardinia-Piedmont removes “Military mobilization (mid term)”, “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Portugal-Brazil removes “Military mobilization (mid term)”, “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Free Boer Republic removes “Military mobilization (mid term)”, “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Liberia removes “Military mobilization (short term)”, “Economic mobilization (short term)”, Indostan removes “Military mobilization (mid term)”, “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Third Burmese Empire removes “Military mobilization (mid term)”, “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Tokugawa Shogunate removes “Military mobilization (mid term)”, “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Union of North America removes “Military mobilization (mid term)”, “Economic mobilization (mid term)”, Mexico removes “Military mobilization (short term)”, “Economic mobilization (short term)”, United Communes of the Andes removes “Military mobilization (short term)”, “Economic mobilization (short term)”.
Still dealing with a deep financial crisis at hand, the government of the British Royal Commonwealth agreed to continue selling off the territories that many consider crucial for it to continue running its global empire. This time, Gibraltar and Malta were sold to Great Britain’s allies from Portugal-Brazil. The North-African port of Oran was also passed along to the Sultanate of Maghreb based on the deal signed earlier that year, indicating that it’d become a Maghrebi territory as soon as the Commonwealth is once more at peace. (Region Iberia: Portugal-Brazil gains +0.5% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -0.5% Regional Influence)
(Region Italia: Portugal-Brazil gains +3% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -3% Regional Influence)
(Region North Africa: Maghreb gains +1% Regional Influence, British Royal Commonwealth loses -1% Regional Influence)
(Portugal-Brazil: -400 EC; British Royal Commonwealth: +400 EC)
The post-war demobilization of the Portobrazilian forces were simultaneously mirrored by an ambitious expansion of the nation’s intelligence agencies, growth of the diplomatic corps, as well as opening of new Crown-aligned fidalgo corporations. (Portugal-Brazil: +5 Missions, +8 Enterprises (-162.6 HC, -129.9 IC, -414.8 EC, -213.8 MC), -4 Corps, -2 Squadrons (-maintenance))
Not only do the Twin Crowns develop their soft power mechanisms extensively, but also intensively. A major boom of scientific, cultural, political, and, unfortunately, criminal thought took place across Portugal-Brazil, while its capitalist class readily rearmed itself with some of the top-notch tools and methods from across the world. Some analysts warn the nation’s leadership that the improvements would also increase the running costs of the nation’s industry and state apparatus, but Empress Isabel hopes to compensate it with their growing efficiency. (Portugal-Brazil adopts “Social messianism and utopian thought”, “Modern archeology and anthropology”, “Statistical theory”, “Human trafficking”, “Cultism and self-devotion”, “Environmentalism”, “Medievalism and the cult of the past”, “Vigilante and rondas”, “Meteorological balloons and weather forecasting”, “Radioactivity and basics of atomic physics”, “Highways and roadhouses”, “Direct electric current”, “Still engine”, “Hydrometallurgy”, “Hydraulic power network”, “Excavators. bulldozers, and tractors”, “Water and land conservation”, “Dreisines and velocipedes”, “Aerodynes and heavier-than-air flight”, “Modern sweatshops”, “Assembly lines”, “Air-pressure-powered exoskeleton”, “Air-line land infrastructure”, “Offshore drilling”, “Gas turbine” for -595.5 HC, -230.25 IC, -550.5 EC, -255 MC)
With the country finally returning to the peacetime economy, Portugal-Brazil is stopping its conservation efforts and opens its financial sector for foreign investments and starts leveraging its powerful light and consumer goods industry (as well as blossoming agriculture) for gaining better international contracts and educational ties. The Ministry of Commerce of the Twin Crowns also attempted to pull off a complex “triangle deal” with its partners from the Heavenly Kingdom of China and the North German Federation, but the negotiations led to a massive confusion and a series of disagreements, resulting in a much more simplistic, conventional agreement drafted. (Portugal-Brazil: -750 HC, +1090 IC, -765 EC, -10 MC; Directorial Russia: -600 IC, +600 EC; Italy: +750 HC, -350 IC, +165 EC, -50 MC; North German Federation: -140 IC, +40 MC)
Despite a traditional etatist, state economy lean of Russian conservatives, under the pressure from Viktor Bure and Piotr Smirnoff the ruling coalition pushed through the Uchreditelnoye Sobraniye of Russia a series of social-darwinist reforms that promoted classless pursuit of success and simultaneously removed one of the costly safety pillows aimed at helping Russia’s poor to stay alive. (Directorial Russia adopts “Open class economy”, “Soup kitchens” for -1025.69 HC, -273.05 EC)
Facing potential crises in Eastern Europe and the Pontic region, the Directorial Russian Army updates its fighting techniques, rear equipment, armaments, and logistics for the first time since the War of the Hungarian Containment. Especially standing out is the creation of Osnaz units (from Russian “Osoboye Naznacheniye,” meaning “special purpose”), dedicated to rearline and battlefield sabotage. (Directorial Russia adopts “Telescopic sights and modern sniping”, “Gas warfare and protection”, “Stud farms and horse-powered mobility”, “Field hospital system”, “Nihang and military sabotage” for -84 HC, -120 IC, -474 EC, -24 MC)
Directorial Russia’s heavy-handed response to the Siberian attempts to regain some influence in home politics and economy at Moscow’s expense gained Kremlin few friends beyond the Urals. While nobody is really speaking of deserting the Russian Commonwealth or being hostile to the Russian interests in general, a united coalition of Siberian regionalists (Oblastniks) has formed around the Oblastnichestvo movement, quickly gaining popular and financial support for its agenda. (Siberian Popular Assembly: +3 Missions, +3 Enterprises (-72.3 HC, -78 IC, -209.7 EC, -81.6 MC))
The Pacific Directory continues to live up to its reputation of one the busiest middlemen in the global trade. In addition to actively trading with its Russian and Confederate partners, the Transpacificans started to purchase and resell a variety of Persian, Ma Chinese, Iberian, and Haitian goods, often using the cheaply purchased Russian industrial products as a way to leverage better contracts. Besides, in a traditional act of trade-driven diplomacy, the Iron Confederacy was given a de-facto gift in a form of deadline-free loans. (Pacific Directory: +100 HC, -13 IC, -29 EC, +16 MC; Iberian Republic: +50 IC, -21 MC; Qajar Persia: +23 IC, -10 MC; Haiti: -90 EC, +30 MC; Confederate States of America: -100 HC, -60 IC, +30 EC, +20 MC; Directorial Russa: +75 EC, -30 MC; Iron Confederacy: +4 EC)
With its borders secure and army almost up to the high standards of General Kasteen (who did throw a bone to the old school army leadership and allowed them to drill the infantry and cavalry in classic Cossack “lava” charges), the modernization efforts of the Transpacific Department of Terrestrial Affairs turned to making the country’s home industries competitive with the industry giants of Europe and China. Cutting edge energy storage, tooling, and work programs were brought in at a frantic pace, just in time for contributing to the construction of the PDS Oryol and Slava, two brand new pocket battleships, that were integrated into the Pacific Directorial Navy, which rapidly gains doctrinal competence. (Pacific Directory adopts “Job shops”, “Compressed air energy storage”, “Hydrometallurgy”, “Portable power tools”, “Modern sweatshops”, “Air-pressure-powered exoskeleton”, “Still engine”, “Camisado, elan charge and human sea attack”, “Pocket battleships”, “Crossing the T”, “Saturation attack”, “Powerboat and modern ship boarding” for -41.5 HC, -9.5 IC, -32 EC, -15 MC)
The rise to power of the Pochvenniks in Russia was an inspiration for Finnish estates owners, who went many steps further than their Russian colleagues and financed a political push for a return of some elements of the old order to the Finnish society, while keeping the facade of a constitutional monarchy. (Finland adopts “Neo-feudalism”, “Cultural assimilation” for -42.71 IC, -10.31 MC)
The delegation of significant power and influence to aateli estate owners in Finland saw some of them forming loose guild-like cooperation, promising economic support to the ruling government coalition in exchange for various benefits and political preferentialism. (Finland: +1 Enterprise (-10.2 HC, -2.4 IC, -25.1 EC, -16 MC))
Swedish economy also experienced a period of centralization, albeit it was driven by a greater level of organization of the NGF-inspired aktiebolags (“limited companies”), which are likely to form a foundation of the future Swedish corporatism. (Sweden: +1 Enterprise (-10.2 HC, -2.6 IC, -26.6 EC, -17.7 MC))
While its eastern Scandinavian neighbor was using the benefits of the Scandinavian Trade Union to expand its economic power, Denmark-Norway used this period of prosperity to finally overhaul the system of educational and scientific investments and provide local labor unions with constitutional protection. Meanwhile, the first municipal elections were held across the Dual Kingdom, with suffrage being extended to all land- or property-owning men. (Denmark-Norway adopts “University stipends”, “Scientific subsidies”, “Organized labor protection”, “Universal male suffrage”, “Timocratic government” for -118.22 HC, -76.93 EC)
The Council of Savants of the NGF keeps on conservatively expanding the nation’s state apparatus and industrial prowess, eagerly running a rather tight budget for that purpose. (North German Federation: +2 Missions, +1 Enterprise (-56.2 HC, -63 IC, -111.5 EC, -51.1 MC))
True to its reputation of one of the world leaders in industrial and agricultural innovation, the North German Federation is going through a period of extensive growth of its hydroelectric power production and greater mechanization of agriculture. Meanwhile, agents of the reputable Bureau XIII are learning to get their hands dirty in the KGB style. (North German Federation adopts “Kompromat and modern blackmail”, “Mechanization of agriculture”, “Hydroelectric plants” for -15 IC, -128.5 EC, -83.5 MC)
As the Kingdom of the Netherlands gradually stabilizes, its ties with the neighboring North German Federation grow as well, manifesting in a series of mutually beneficial trade deals. (North German Federation: +66 EC, -30 MC; Netherlands: -66 EC, +30 MC)
Under a pressure from a strong domestic public demand and with rather obsessive urging from its northern neighbor, the Confederation of Princes of Austria, Bavaria, and the Rheinland agreed to pass a truly transformative bill finally abolishing the practice of Medieval indebted servitude. (Austria-Bavaria removes “Serfdom” for -132.68 IC, -93.50 MC)
Abolition of serfdom in Austria-Bavaria unleashed a wave of new social and political ideas, bringing the South-German society in touch with a greater complexity of the modern world. Shortage of easily available labor in the fields and a surplus of such labor in industrialized urban centers also prompted a wave of industrial innovation across the Confederation of Princes. Meanwhile, the political crisis in Hungary and a growing suspicion of Austria-Bavaria’s ruling class regarding the Polish and Italian intentions in Central Europe have prompted a wave of reorganization and modernization of the Princely armies. (Austria-Bavaria adopts “Traditional art and culture”, Mass culture and popular art”, “Monetary standard and central bank”, “Corporate ethos”, “Hisbah and venture capital”, “Socialism and class consciousness”, “Nihilism and moral relativity”, “Social messianism and utopian thought”, “Cultism and self-devotion”, “Internal combustion engine”, “Liquid-propellant rocket engine”, “Vaccination”, “Refrigeration”, “Modern sweatshops”, “Portable power tools”, “Interchangeable parts”, “Mechanization of agriculture”, “Job shops”, “Geologic expeditions”, “Oil rigs”, “Excavators. bulldozers, and tractors”, “Hydrometallurgy”, “Steamer ships and colliers”, “Aerodynes and heavier-than-air flight”, “Judo and hand-to-hand combat training”, “Camisado, elan charge and human sea attack”, “Dreadnaught wheels”, “Road locomotives”, “Defense in depth”, “Trench raiding”, “Alligator boats”, “Paramilitary organizations”, “Battalions of Death and shock troops”, “Arditi and small-unit tactics”“ for -563.25 HC, -185 IC, -198 EC, -207 MC)
Croatian and Dalmatian plemstvo (nobility) continued to organize into powerful enterprising bodies following the sweeping reforms of the spring of 1895, forming a backbone of Illyria’s economy. (Illyria: +1 Enterprise (-10.2 HC, -2.4 IC, -25.3 EC, -15.6 MC))
The compromise of the Shadow Council of Rome between the dominant mafioso families has started settling in as a the main law of the Italian Republic, de-facto splitting the nation into influence zones of different families, with the ranks of the kleptocracy being open to anyone daring enough to abandon a life of a commoner for service to a capo. (Italy adopts “Legal pluralism”, “Contest mobility” for -1122.38 HC)
The stopping of multiple shipbuilding programs in the end of the Central European War was a significant point of alienation between Italy’s centrists (traditionally supported by the industrialist elite) and the current coalitionary government in Rome propped up by the mafioso powers. This error was reconciled in 1895-1896, as the previously abandoned shipbuilding programs were unfrozen. (Italy: +2 Squadrons (-25.2 HC, -16.2 IC, -44.2 EC, -71.8 MC))
Having largely concentrated in the development of lighter skeleton crawlers during the Central European War, the Italian military has finally acknowledged the need in heavier armored personnel carriers in modern warfare, simultaneously introducing semi-automatic carbine as the main infantry weapon for such “mechanized armored infantry.” At the same time, the navy continued adopting its somewhat obsolete doctrines to the requirements of the time. (Italy adopts “Semi-automatic carbines”, “Judo and hand-to-hand combat training”, “Ironclad landships and armored personnel carriers”, “Paramilitary organizations”, “Anti-torpedo maneuver”, “Crossing the T” for -93.75 HC, -24.75 IC, -32.25 EC, -86.25 MC)
While a heated (and highly divisive) discussion is ongoing in the Iberian political scene about a possible return of monarchy, more pragmatic members of the Republican government keep quietly doing their job, forming bipartisan groups that shape the country’s open policies on trade and economic liberties. (Iberian Republic adopts “Laissez-faire economy”, “Free trade” for -113.91 HC, -62.44 EC, -11.04 MC)
After an unprecedented expansion of the British Royal Army and Navy at the peak of the Second Atlantic and Great Colonial wars, the Royal Commonwealth predictably downshifts to a peacetime standing (albeit, retaining a good portion of its troops just for the sake of dealing with various insurgencies and crises). (British Royal Commonwealth: -10 Corps, -6 Squadrons (-maintenance))
As a result of Polish political machinations, the situation in Hungary seems to be increasingly explosive, and in the past it has already shown indications of attracting Directorial Russian and Austrobavarian attention to the ambitious Polish state. Perhaps, that might explain the total overhaul of the much decreased Polish military, with its core being rearmed, retrained, and better dug-in than any army it’s likely to face. The remaining question is, how much could such military expand without sacrificing its standards? (Poland removes “Breech-loaded small arms”, “Requisition and boarding”, adopts “Hand grenades”, “Semi-automatic small arms”, “Semi-automatic carbines”, “Judo and hand-to-hand combat training”, “Telescopic sights and modern sniping”, “Light mortars and infantry support”, “Indirect counter-barrage”, “Standing barrage”, “Bicycle-riding and ski infantry”, “Field hospital system”, “Trench raiding”, “Defense in depth”, “Barbed wire”, “Turret artillery”, “Alligator boats”, “Fortified districts”, “Killing zones and indirect machine gun fire”, “Mobile gun shields”, “Maskirovka and military camouflage”, “Dispersed combat tactics”, “Specialized troops”, “Army inter-branch cooperation”, “Women’s battalions”, “Camisado, elan charge and human sea attack”, “Auftragstaktik and command by initiative”, “Arditi and small-unit tactics”, “Central staff analytical engines” for -245 HC, -148.75 IC, -161 EC, -119 MC)
The Polish heavy industry remains to be one of the flaships of European manufacturing, acting as a powerful leverage behind the lucrative contracts secured by the Sanationist government in Warsaw with the troubled Netherlands and underdeveloped states of Central America. (Poland: +95 HC, +190 EC, -98 MC; Netherlands: -95 HC, -70 EC, +48 MC; Centroamerican Federation: -70 EC, +30 MC; Haiti: -50 EC, +20 MC)
Hetman Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s reforms continued into 1896, finally expanding the voting franchise to all male citizens and not only property owners (although the later remained being the only eligible to run for office). Additionally, the administrative divisions and Kyiv’s relations to the regions were finally institutionalized, in addition to a series of long-promised, populist welfare programs. (Ukrainian Hetmanate adopts “Regional state”, “Labor safety regulations”, “State-funded healthcare”, “Universal male suffrage” for -277.88 HC, -13.12 IC, -32.12 EC, -36.71 MC)
The Hetmanate’s cordiality in relations with Directorial Russia has started to result in a gradual purchasing of modern tools of information trade and storage, industrial tools and processes, as well as weaponry pieces for the Hetmanate’s obsolete standing army, industry, and civic institutions. (Ukrainian Hetmanate adopts “Information economy”, “Data vaults”, “Portable power tools”, “Electrified manufacture”, “Hydrometallurgy”, “Downcycling”, “Steam carriages”, “Machine guns and belt-fed weapons”, “Semi-automatic carbines”, “Magazines and clips”, “Dynamite guns”, “Field trenches” for -34 HC, -2.25 IC, -8.75 EC, -84 MC)
Humiliated by the loss of influence in Persia and the Caucasus and a resulting Western Withdrawal, the Ottoman State diminishes the role of the army and navy in its affairs (along with their size), while concentrating on the economic development of the remaining (and still significant) territories of the empire. (Ottoman State: +3 Enterprises (-39 HC, -8.7 IC, -130.5 EC, -78.3 MC), -5 Corps, -2 Squadrons (-maintenance))
To many observers’ surprise, the Ottoman society remains on the forefront of various societal changes and philosophical or scientific insights of the modern world. While not all of them are strictly seen as positive (and some are arguably straining the Ottoman State to the limit of its capacity to absorb), they clearly result in a level of sophistication that is hard to rival. (Ottoman State adopts “Agit-trains and agit-boats”, “Medievalism and the cult of the past”, “Futebol and mass sport events”, “Fast food industry”, “Hermeneutics and theory of language”, “Human trafficking”, “Pornography and vice police”, “Vigilante and rondas”, “Radioactivity and basics of atomic physics” for -470 HC, -275 IC, -410 EC, -10 MC)
With the proclamation of the Sultanate of Egypt by 'Abbās II Ḥilmī Bāshā and the nation’s significant expansion into African territories, it became apparent that the old economic and diplomatic apparatuses of the Khedivate were becoming woefully understaffed. With these thoughts in mind, the Sultanate’s administration was very cautiously expanded, perhaps, due to Abbas II’s desire to not alarm his Ummahist advisers with sweeping changes. (Egypt: +1 Mission, +1 Enterprise (-26.3 HC, -20.3 IC, -57.4 EC, -26.9 MC))
The establishment of Sultanate in Egypt was followed by a wave of top-down innovations that were quickly spread by Ummahist activists, enriching Masri education, improving bureaucratic processes, and, most importantly, modernizing the lagging behind Nilotic industry. (Egypt adopts “Hermeneutics and theory of language”, “Modern archeology and anthropology”, “Transnational crime and law”, “Data vaults”, “Statistical theory”, “Radioactivity and basics of atomic physics”, “Hydraulic power network”, “Still engine”, “Gas turbine”, “Direct electric current”, “Alternating electric current”, “Blowlamp brazing and soldering”, “Vaccination”, “Electrified manufacture”, “Assembly lines”, “Paved streets and urban infrastructure”, “Integrated railway network” for -18 HC, -47 IC, -104 EC, -70 MC)
Following the example of gradual centralization of the Abyssinian Sultanate, the Caliph of the Toucouleur Empire is starting to form a centralized body of magistrates and law enforcers to manage his realm. (Toucouleur Empire: +1 Mission (-7.6 HC, -12.2 IC, -20.3 EC))
In parallel with the formation of a more or less modern state apparatus, the Toucouleur Empire also embarked on a modernization program for its standing army, training its soldiers in the traditions of Jihadist zeal, teaching officers some lessons on battlefield engineering and mining, and also purchasing obsolete Polish weapons that had just recently been assigned for scrapping or export to the developing countries. (Toucouleur Empire adopts “Fougasse, booby traps, and improvised artillery”, “Camisado, elan charge and human sea attack”, “Rifled breechloaders”, “Breech-loaded small arms” for -8 HC, -0.25 IC, -3 EC, -2.5 MC)
Just like its Triune Pact’s partners, the Free Boer Republic followed its demobilization policies with a shrinking of the army staff and assigning many soldiers in reserve. This, of course, was a rather humble downsizing, but the Republican leadership was not new to the notion of aggressive spending and initiated a significant expansion of the various services of popular control and oversight, supporting its attempts to “whiten” the population and increase its loyalty, while simultaneously expanding the nation’s involvement into the business and industry at the homefront. (Free Boer Republic: +4 Missions, +2 Enterprises (-88.4 HC, -90.6 IC, -192 EC, -83 MC), -2 Corps (-maintenance))
The signing of the Treaty of Montreal caused a burst of social unrest and confusion in the Free Boer Republic, driven primarily by the fury of the far right politicians and the frustration of the liberally minded, but nationalist middle class. This wave of social and political instability in South Africa, surprisingly, turned out to be a gift for its previously stagnant culture, as new forms of socio-political organization and motivation started to emerge, supplied by the most mobilizational forms of cultural expression, contemporary philosophical thought and more modern business practices. (Free Boer Republic adopts “Traditional art and culture”, “Classicism and the Enlightenment”, “Mass culture and popular art”, “Agit-trains and agit-boats”, “Medievalism and the cult of the past”, “Manga, comics, and sequential art”, “Business regulations”, “Hisbah and venture capital”, “Social messianism and utopian thought”, “Cultism and self-devotion”, “Hermeneutics and theory of language”, “Modern archeology and anthropology”, “Statistical theory” for -150.5 HC, -85.75 IC, -124.25 EC, -7 MC)
The Kingdom of Georgia has achieved an important milestone, having formed Sakartvelos Dazvervis Samsakhuri (Georgian Intelligence Service), its first more or less modern espionage agency. (Georgia: +1 Mission (-9.4 HC, -13.8 IC, -21.8 EC, -0.8 MC))
Under the impression that the war and conflict have left the region for long (or, possibly, in hopes to establish a smaller, but better armed and organized army), the Caucasian Imamate is cutting on the size of its clan militias. (Caucasian Imamate: -1 Corps (-maintenance))
Following a raid by a Basmachi field commander known as Black Abdullah on a palace of one of the Khivan Khan’s vassals, the Khan’s guard was split into two groups, one remaining a classic group of well-armed retainers, and the other one acting as a band of loyalist enforcers with a portfolio of secret police. (Khiva: +1 Mission (-8.2 HC, -12.4 IC, -20.8 EC))
Black Abdullah’s glorious re-capture of his previously lost harem impacted not only the Khivans, but also his fellow Basmachi leaders, who agreed to form a proto-intelligence service out of the most capable and loyal members of the popular movement. (Basmachi State: +1 Mission (-8.6 HC, -13 IC, -22.8 EC, -0.5 MC))
The weakened Qajar dynasty of Persia starts rebuilding its state apparatus and standing army from the scratch, balancing between the popular disloyalty and Indostani ambitions. (Qajar Persia: +1 Mission, +1 Corps (-32.4 HC, -16.2 IC, -33.4 EC, -2.2 MC))
While the Taiping Mandate continues gradually venturing further and farther away from the original, strict guidelines of Brother Hong, the Tibetan Dalai-Lama seems to be liberally borrowing from the Taiping playbook, adding the agriculturalist organizational concepts of Nongjia social philosophy to the practices of Tibetan rural economy, along with other aspects of strongly insular feudalism.(Tibet adopts “Armed citizenry”, “Ethnic nepotism”, “Nongjia agriculturalist economy” for -2.77 EC, -4.79 MC)
Just like many other participants of the most recent global conflict, the Sikh Raj of Indostan has chosen to forge swords into plowshares by demobilizing a good third of the victorious Sikh Khalsa Phauj (the Sikh Khalsa Army) and invest the freed up resources into expanding the state apparatus, state investments into the art and press, as well as, most significantly, its booming industry. (Indostan: +2 Mission, +5 Enterprises (-99.7 HC, -58.4 IC, -29.3 EC, -147.9 MC), -10 Corps (-maintenance))
The demobilization of the swollen Sikh army was followed by a scrapping of many obsolete weapons still used in garrison duty, while the already lagging behind Sikh Navy controversially removed the steam-and-sail workhorses of its merchant marine from exploitation. Meanwhile, the state apparatus of the Raj was enhanced by a number of technocratic innovations that allow it to track individual citizens and entire groups better. Last but not least, Akal Sena (“The Army of Immortals”) was founded as a unique Indostani license-to-kill secret agency. (Indostan removes “Smoothbore small arms”, “Breech-loaded small arms”, “Tall sailing ships”, “Steam-and-sail ships”, adopts “Futebol and mass sport events”, “Citizen's dividend cards”, “Citizen data cards”, “Data vaults”, “Fast food industry”, “Kingsmen and license-to-kill agents” for -61.75 HC, -65 IC, -178.75 EC, -55.25 MC)
Peace is coming to the cosmopolitan Konbaung realm once again, and the Third Empire’s army and navy are shrinking to their pre-war size. (Third Burmese Empire: -5 Corps, -4 Squadrons (-maintenance))
Emperor Thành Thái of Dai Viet has finally overcome the dominance of powerful courtiers through a series of intrigues that saw him finally being able to discipline the Grand Secretariat (Thị trung Đại học sĩ) into a centralized, semi-modern bureaucratic organ. (Dai Viet: +1 Mission (-8.6 HC, -13.4 IC, -22 EC))
Enlistment and conscription of hundreds of thousands of Japanese workers and peasants in the military at the height of the War of Asian Liberation had a profound impact on the state of the nation’s agriculture and cattle herding, leading to worrying rises in prices on basic commodities and foodstuffs. As the signature of the Treaty of Hong Kong came a bit too late for demobilization to reintroduce the missing workers to the labor force, the Tokugawa government quickly moved on to mass-import various foodstuffs from various nations across the world, while selling off the Shogunate’s military goods surplus. (Tokugawa Shogunate: +1797 HC, -169 MC; Confederate States of America: -300 HC, +29 MC; Deseret: -200 HC, +20 MC; Mexico: -200 HC, +23 MC; Indostan: -400 HC, +39 MC; Caucasian Imamate: -72 HC, +6 MC; Abyssinia: -164 HC, +14 MC; Iron Confederacy: -72 HC, +6 MC; Centroamerican Federation: -266 HC, +22 MC; Khiva: -123 HC, +10 MC)
As the Shogunate demobilized, its army and navy, bloated with inflated war budgets, started being shrunk even below the pre-war levels, as the sword-and-pen bureaucracy of the Bakufu regime won a cabinet struggle for a chance to keep the nation’s grown state apparatus and state-owned industry running at full funding. (Tokugawa Shogunate: -7 Corps, -4 Squadrons (-maintenance))
As the colonial possessions of the Tokugawa Shogunate were expanded far beyond the South Seas with the Treaty of Hong Kong, the nation grew to accept its image of a colonial empire with a strongly centralized metropolitan rule. The irony wasn’t lost on anyone who remembered that the Shogunate originally declared the war on Great Britain under the pretext of freeing Asia of the British colonial masters. (Tokugawa Shogunate adopts “Metropolitan state” for -526.54 IC)
Hoping to bring the Home Islands’ agricultural output to its pre-war levels, the tekuno-kurashi state planners of the Tokugawa Shogunate also had to accept the fact that the old surplus of village labor wasn’t going to be available anymore. With these assumptions in mind, the set up a series of state-sponsored incentives to introduce mechanization of agriculture across the country. (Tokugawa Shogunate adopts “Mechanization of agriculture” for -10 EC, -40 MC)
The Kings-Under-Heaven may continue to pay a lip service to Brother Hong’s idealized vision of agricultural utopia, but the recent series of energetic, if somewhat hectic reforms has firmly set the Heavenly Kingdom on the course toward a more dynamic society, in which innovative go-getters are set to advance almostly unlimitedly in their social status and rank, as long as they stay away from a costly failure. (Taiping Mandate removes “Nongjia agriculturalist economy”, adopts “Open class economy”, “Startup economy” for -3676.58 HC, -311.54 MC)
While the Taiping Mandate’s heavy industry is recovering from its crisis, Chinese light industry is becoming one of the world’s leaders in production of a wide arrangement of basic and consumer goods, as well as such a staple of natural resources as coal. This allows the Heavenly Kingdom to leverage its manufacturing might to become a center of global outsourcing, buying off a surplus of industrial goods and armaments from countries across the planet with the easily earned cash. Simultaneously, China turns into a top consumer of British agricultural surplus and a purchaser of a variety of North-German patents. On a separate note, the Taiping regime’s Mormon partners are once again enjoying advisory assistance from their Asiatic patrons. (Taiping Mandate: +800 HC, +130 IC, -1074 EC, +345.1 MC; Belgium: +8 EC, -4.5 MC; Moravia: +8 EC, -4.5 MC; Romanian Domnate: +15 EC, -8.3 MC; Austria-Bavaria: +75 EC, -41 MC; Iberian Republic: +60 EC, -31.5 MC; Illyria: +30 EC, -17 MC; Kurdistan: +45 EC, -25 MC; Basmachi State: +23 EC, -13.3 MC; Ukrainian Hetmanate: +80 EC, -40 MC; Hungary: +60 EC, -30 MC; Armenia: +60 EC, -30 MC; Directorial Russia: +200 HC, +150 EC, -100 MC; North German Federation: -200 IC, +170 EC; British Royal Commonwealth: -1000 HC, +290 EC; Deseret: +70 IC)
Just like many other participants of the Second Atlantic and Great Colonial wars, the Union of North America demobilized a lot of its armed forces and halting additional shipbuilding projects, choosing to invest additional resources in economic expansion instead. That investment, however, was fairly conservative, as has become traditional for the current Fouracre administration. (Union of North America: +6 Enterprises (-70.8 HC, -18.6 IC, -221.4 EC, -181.2 MC), -3 Corps, -9 Squadrons (-maintenance))
The Union’s transition to a peacetime economy impacted not only the size of the state involvement in the industrial matters, but also the government policies regarding foreign trade, removing many previously existing tariffs. (Union of North America removes “Protectionism”, adopts “Free trade” for -217.82 MC)
The lift mobilization policies has also eased the pressure of industrial rationing policies on the free market in the North-American Union, resulting in an major wave of mechanization and modernization of work forces, power production, and the financial sector, while the society also experienced an influx of powerful new ideas and ways of public organization. (Union of North America adopts “Gambling modus”, “Punchcard cryptocurrency”, “Engine-driven stock exchange and algorithmic trading”, “Social messianism and utopian thought”, “Cultism and self-devotion”, “Radioactivity and basics of atomic physics”, “Alternating electric current”, “Portable power tools”, “Hydroelectric plants”, “Air-pressure-powered exoskeleton”, “Job shops”, “Offshore drilling”, “Downcycling”, “Water and land conservation”, “Dreisines and velocipedes”, “Vezdekhod chassis and all-terrain vehicles”, “Aerodynes and heavier-than-air flight” for -351 HC, -288 IC, -183 EC, -357 MC)
Throughout the first post-war year, the Union continued to act as the “Arsenal of Fraternity,” as it was dubbed in a pro-North-American French newspaper. In that role, the North-American giant provided plenty of help to its past war allies, either via direct donations and “interest-free debt” or via heavily subsidized trade contracts. (Union of North America: -200 HC, -500 IC, +600 EC, -610 MC; Communard France: +400 MC; Free Boer Republic: -500 IC, +300 EC, -100 MC; Mexico: -300 EC, +60 MC; Communes of the Andes: +200 HC, +50 MC)
While the number of economic, cultural, and military actors employed by the CSA has shrunk dramatically over the past year, the economic crisis did force them innovate, with the mechanization of agriculture being the most notable and consequential of these changes. Meanwhile, the blossoming of Dixie sciences has enabled the CSA to join a tight group of nations whose best minds are dedicated to the research and understanding of radioactivity phenomenon. (Confederate States of America adopts “Business regulations”, “Radioactivity and basics of atomic physics”, “Mechanization of agriculture”, “Aerodynes and heavier-than-air flight”, “Indirect counter-barrage”, “Arditi and small-unit tactics”, “Snorkel and long-range submarine”, “Wolf pack naval tactics”, “Echo-locating devices” for -23.5 HC, -171.25 IC, -87.25 EC, -71.25 MC)
A Plains Cree chief Pîhtokahanapiwiyin (known to the Yankees and Dixies as Chief Poundmaker) has elevated himself among fellow members of the Council of Elders of the Iron Confederacy. Known for his visionary loyalty to the Iron Confederacy and his firm pacifistic stance, he has pushed through a series of reforms that have established some basic foundations of the First Nations’ centralized state apparatus, law enforcement, taxation, and education, bringing a previously unseen level of social complexity to the Prairies. Chief Poundmaker’s venerable partner from the Council of War, Chief Mistahi-maskwa (Big Bear), meanwhile, has secured a procurement order of Kenaitsy-made revolvers and “iron cornflakes” (as hand grenades are known to the First Nations) for the Confederacy’s militia. (Iron Confederacy adopts “Kompromat and modern blackmail”, “Classicism and the Enlightenment”, “Romanticism and orientalism”, “Realism and pragmatism”, “Impressionism and decadent art”, “Private and business banking”, “Manga, comics, and sequential art”, “Corporate ethos”, “Business regulations”, “Hisbah and venture capital”, “Nationalism and imperialism”, “Globalism and cosmopolitism”, “Phenomenalism”, “Positivism and futurism”, “Environmentalism”, “Existentialism and modern ethics”, “Hermeneutics and theory of language”, “Modern archeology and anthropology”, “Cartels and economic crime”, “Investigative journalism”, “Oligarchy and political corruption”, “Revolvers and chamber-loaded handguns”, “Hand grenades” for -3.75 HC, -15.25 IC, -26 EC, -8 MC)
Chief Poundmaker’s reforms also touched upon multiple levels of political, military and economic organization of the First Nation’s state, improving its centralization and ability to outsource critical state procurement contracts through a single “Council of the Needs”. One of the most fundamental changes, however, was the a series of tribal agreements that brought to the forefront of the Iron Confederacy’s politics a new generation of avid indigenists, who, for now, have not been particularly receptive of the Andean brand of leftist indigenism, but clearly are working to shape a new, more libertarian version of the same movement. (Iron Confederacy adopts “People's army”, “Corvee system”, “Offshore outsourcing”, “Gray market economy”, “Multiculturalism”, “Religious and ideological nepotism” for -7.01 HC, -24 IC, -65.06 EC. -2.93 MC)
Mexican culture and philosophical thought continue to diversify and catch up on older trends, while local capital also adopts more widely accepted financial and business practices and explores new niches. (Mexico adopts “Classicism and the Enlightenment”, “Mass culture and popular art”, “Manga, comics, and sequential art”, “Corporate ethos”, “Fast food industry”, “Environmentalism”, “Existentialism and modern ethics”, “Biologism and evolution theory”, “Dreisines and velocipedes” for -43.5 HC, -46 IC, -63.25 EC, -7.25 MC)
News of demobilization were met with cheers in the United Communes, which army dropped by one third in number by the end of the first post-war year. (Communes of the Andes: -4 Corps (-maintenance))
Looking to finally establish a functional, centralized intelligence agency and a primitive, but somewhat modern foreign ministry in the future, the Chile-Patagonian Free State dissolved approximately a half of its standing army, essentially relying on Gran Paraguay to act as the protector and guarantor it declares itself to be. (Chile-Patagonia: -1 Corps (-maintenance))
