History of In the Shadow of Rome

[EQandcivfanatic]

Below is a nation by nation summary of the historical events leading up to January 1936 for my NES, In the Shadow of Rome. Some may find this merely just an interesting tale, but players of my NES may use this to justify in-game actions perhaps. Anyways, we will begin with a post by post history of the Great Powers, which will eventually be followed by the other nations.

The Great Powers

United States of America: From 1836 to 1848 the USA remained one of the quickest growing and developing nations in the world, second only to the British Empire. This was turned however by the beginning of the Mexican War in 1849 over the US’s annexation of Texas. This bloody conflict lasted until General Lee’s capture of Mexico City in June of 1858, almost ten years after the start of the war. The following treaty ceded most of California and several other regions to the United States. Combined with the land gained in the Oregon Agreement in 1852, this was the peak of United States power, and a Golden Age for the Washington government. This all changed with the 1868 election.

The radical Republican Party had been formed in 1854, and despite its obvious anti-slavery platform and the pure animosity towards the Southern landholders, managed to win enough electoral votes to win the Presidency in 1868. Outraging the South, the states of Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, South and North Carolina, and Virginia seceded from the Union. New Mexico and Indian Territory were occupied by Confederate soldiers before the northerners could react. War did not begin until 1870 however has diplomats from both sides attempted to form a peaceful solution. With the arrival of Italian forces in late 1870 to assist the Confederacy war broke out in full force. The fall of New York and Washington to a combined Italian and French army resulted in the US government ceding Southern independence in late 1872.

Though the Democratic Party won the election of 1872, this forced the creation of the Union Party, a radical group determined to reunite the states at any cost. With the Union victory in 1876, the two American nations went to war once more. Though the unionists managed to invade Tennessee and Virginia with some success, the arrival of a new Italian Expeditionary Force in 1878 turned the tide once more. The US surrender in 1879 brought with it the creation of a disillusioned nation in New England, sponsored by the Italian King. More states had been forced out of the Union. The loss of its industrial heartland hurt the United States badly. From 1880 to 1896 the United States spent most of the time rebuilding its industrial around the Great Lakes and the new capitol of Chicago.

The 1896 election brought with it one more war against the Confederate States. This time tensions in Europe prevented the Italians from joining alongside the South in open battle, but it was made clear to the US government that full annexation would not be acceptable. To offset the loss of their Italian allies, the Confederate States found new friends with the fledgling nation of Canada, which recently had a military coup which removed English control. Though they were forced to fight a two front war the United States won a great victory and large portions of the CSA and Canada were ceded to the USA in the Treaty of Toronto in 1899. Though the annexation of Hawaii had been pleasing to the nationalists of America, the Union Party wanted more. The year 1909 brought war once more. This time the effects would be felt across the hemisphere. The United States allied itself with several South American nations to offset the Brazilian entry into the war, while New England and the Confederacy fought a holding action until Italy entered the war in 1912. The end of the war in 1914 brought with it the creation of the new nation of California, taking up most of the United States’ West Coast, and the CSA regained much of its territory from the US.

In 1920 the United States’ American Party was elected while using nationalist fervor such as the Scottish Fascist party had done a year earlier. Like the Scots, the newly elected party acted quickly to remove political opposition and solidify their power over the nation. From 1920 to the present day the United States has been under the rule of the American Party and has slowly built up its military, especially as the treaty was considered disregarded with the Texan Rebellion in 1923 and the Communist Revolution in Italy in 1934. The President of the United States looks once more to a chance to rebuild the Union…

 

[das]

Interesting. EQ, please do France next - or at least give me some information on the events in the last few years, especially as far as regime change goes. Just how stable or chaotic is France now?

 

[Sheep]

I need info on the EASR.

 

[Sheep]

Yeah umm this was a mistake, sorry

 

[Azale]

I request Russia be done after Italy, por favor

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

In 1836 France was still recovering from the Napoleonic Wars and its economy was in shatters. The new monarchy saw it was nessacary to rebuild the economy and the empire. Steps to manage this were begun with the invasion of Algiers in 1837, resulting in the annexation of that barbaric nation. However the French economy was further strained with the 1838 purchase of the province of Nice from Sardinia. The French Empire would further expand in 1840 with the annexation of Morocco and colonial expansion in western Africa.

In 1846 the French cause was devastated by the Sardinian war for the unification of Italy, which resulted in massive bloodshed between the Franco-Sardinian alliance and the primarily Germanic alliance between Sicily, Austria-Hungary, Prussia, and Bavaria. With the unification of Italy in 1849 the war ended but the effects on France were fatal to the monarchy. The Revolution of 1851 resulted in the permanent overthrow of the old regime and the establishment of a new Republic. In 1852 a relative of Napoleon was elected as President and in 1853 he declared a new French Empire.

Disputes between Russia and the Ottoman Empire resulted in war between the two nations in 1854 and Prussia, Austria-Hungary, and England all offered support to the Turkish nation. Russia therefore called upon its French and Italian allies to fight in the expanding conflict. The French and Prussian front was one of extensive fighting, and it may have gone badly for the French if not for the support of nearly 150,000 Italian soldiers. The French and Italians achieved victory in west Prussia by the war’s conclusion in 1859. The English Channel was also a major part of France’s war effort as Italian and French fleets consistently sparred with the English navy. The English navy was shattered at the Second Battle of Trafalgar in 1858 when Italy unleashed the first ironclads into the war.

The French Empire’s first offensive actions after the Crimean War were to continue expansion into Africa and annex the island of Madagascar in 1863. In 1870 the self-proclaimed Napoleon III had a chance to expand French influence into the Americas. The outbreak of civil war in the United States and the default on the US’s ally, Mexico’s, loans gave France the pretext to intervene in the war alongside of Italy. Victory in the campaigns in New York and New England resulted in the USA repaying most of the loans France made to Mexico and considerable influence in the politics of Mexico.

Despite Napoleon III’s great victories in America, France’s old Italian ally would return to cause the French trouble. In 1878 Prussia and Italy invaded France, and the provinces of Nice and Algeria were lost to Italy and Lorraine was lost to the new nation of Germany in 1880.

Following the grave French defeats, the people rose up against Napoleon III in a vicious civil war lasting from 1880-1882 and yet another new French Republic was formed. This would be the contemporary government which now rules France. From 1883 to 1920 France stayed at peace with the world, halting colonial expansionism and developing mainland France itself, improving conditions for its people and installing universal suffrage in 1918. However an English declaration of war in 1921 saw the end of the overseas French Empire. In the brutal conflict lasting until 1926 France lost all of its Asian possessions, including the rich Indochina colonies, and several possessions in Africa. The last strong remnants of the French Empire had been swept away by the rebuilt English Army.

1927-1936 were turbulent times for France, in 1929 a major military force descended upon Paris in an attempt to install a government based on Scottish fascism. In 1933, southern France revolted in a massive communist uprising. Even today the divided factions which make up France threaten to tear the country apart…

 

[Insane_Panda]

May I request a history of the German Reich?

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

In 1836 Sardinia-Piedmont was one of half a dozen Italian states all vying for supremacy in Italian affairs. Among these were the more powerful Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Pope himself in the Papal States. The First War of Italian Unification was fought against the minor states of Lucca and Modena, both supported by the Pope. Both of those nations and considerable amounts of the Papal States were ceded to Sardinia with the peace treaty in early 1837. To accomplish the daunting task of unification, the king saw the need to align Sardinia with neighboring France and the sale of Nice to the French sealed the Sardinians and French’s friendship and alliance. Despite the pressing need for Italian unification, the king of Sardinia realized that colonialism would become a major source of income and prosperity. Therefore in 1840 the army of Sardinia landed in Tunis and quickly annexed that kingdom, beginning the eventual domination of Africa.

In 1846 it was apparent that the unification of Italy would be increasingly difficult as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies had allied itself with the Austrians and the Prussians. So the king of Sardinia took the great gamble and launched a final bid to unify Italy. The Papal States were annexed in late 1846 and the Two Sicilies followed in 1847. The war against Austria and Prussia was salvaged with a small Italian expeditionary force sent to the Franco-Prussian border and the capture of Milan from the Austrian armies in 1848. Therefore in 1849 the war was ended and the unified Kingdom of Italy was declared.

Now that Italy was unified, the king determined that it was time to seize control of the Mediteranean and wrest Gibraltar away from the British. From 1849 to 1851 the Italian Navy underwent a massive growth and in 1852 the Italians launched an attack on Ireland and Britian itself. In a year long war, the Italian Army and Navy inflicted massive losses on the United Kingdom, and in 1853 London fell to the Italians. The Partition of Britain resulted in the creation of Scotland and Ireland, and Gibraltar and Malta were ceded to the Italian Empire. However the peace was only temporary.

In 1854 Russia launched an invasion of the Ottoman Empire, sparking off a system of alliances which would cause the largest conflict ever fought in Europe. The Crimean War brought Italy, France, and Russia against the Prussians, Bavarians, Austrians, Ottomans, and English. Italy’s invasion of Ottoman Libya was met with astonishing success and the capture of Istanbul by Greek, Italian, and Irish forces forced the Ottoman Sultan to surrender to the Triple Alliance. In the Ottomans’ separate peace treaty in 1856, they ceded Libya, Crete, and Cyprus to the growing Italian Empire. Despite this victory however the war would rage all over Europe for another 3 years. The defeat of the British navy in 1858 and the fall of Berlin in 1859 to an Italian invasion from Rostock sealed the fate of the Entente and Italy gained considerable amounts of land from Austria.

From 1860 to 1870, Italy expanded into Africa. The annexation of the Kingdom of Tripoli in 1861 and the annexation of Egypt in 1864 consolidated Italian control over North Africa. However Italian expansion in Africa would come to a brief halt in 1870 with the beginning of the War Between the States. The king of Italy would not have intervened if not for the United States’ alliance with Mexico, who had gone bankrupt and taken several Italian businesses down as a result. So in 1871 Italian and French forces launched a lightning campaign through New England, capturing Washington D.C., New York, and Boston. With such defeats the USA was forced to cede Confederate independence in 1872.

Following victory in North America, Italy determined it was time to expand futher in the Mediterannean and Africa. In 1874 a war was fought against the Ottoman Empire in which resulted in an Italian victory expanding Italian influence along the Red Sea and into Palestine. In 1877 the West African nation of Sokoto was annexed. However these developments would be overshadowed by the growing revanchanist feeling for taking back Nice from France. The French had refused any offers for sale of Nice back to Italy, so in 1878 Italy allied with Prussia. When the war came, Italian forces penetrated deep into France, advancing to Paris where they met with Prussian armies. With victory Nice was returned to Italy and Prussia managed to form the German states into one unified Germany. This peace was to remain short term.

Even while fighting a harsh war in Europe, Italy managed to send a expeditionary force to the Confederate States where they fought and won another war alongside the CSA, creating the new nation of New England in 1879.

In 1873 Prussia had attacked and annexed the East African nation of Zanzibar, which was in the Italian declared region of influence. After the Franco-Prussian War in 1880, Italy decided it was time to remove Germany from any position in Africa. Once more Italy and Russia were allied against Germany and Austria. The Italian naval landings in northern Germany accomplished their task of crippling the German industry and marching once more into Berlin in 1882. Germany was forced to cede more land to Russia and give the Zanzibar region to Italy.

From 1882 to 1895 Italy remained in an odd period of peace. Colonial expansion into Africa continued at a hectic pace and by 1895 almost all of Africa had been colonized by Italians. Asia was a vast source of wealth and French, English, and Russian colonies in the region had done extraordinarily well. Italy decided to get a peace of the action. The Japanese, determined to halt European expansion in Asia, sent a fleet to defeat the Italian expedition. In the first of a series of similar naval battles in the Pacific and Indian oceans, the Japanese defeated the Italian armada, and would continue to do so until the war’s conclusion in 1897.

With the English victory against the Italian-supported Boers in Africa in 1900 and the United States’ victory against the Confederates and Canadians in 1899, it seemed that the global position of Italy was unraveling. This seemed apparent to the king of England and from 1902-1905 a massive, stalemated war was fought between England and Italy along the South African border. At sea naval conflict also stalemated as the English were unable to gain access to the Caribbean and the Italians were repulsed from English proper. When peace came it came as a relief to all.

In 1912 Italy would intervene in the most recent of the Confederate-Yankee wars and landed forces to assist the faltering Confederate army. With achievement of victory in 1914 came the formation of California from the majority of the United States west coast. This would be Italy’s final intervention in the New World.

In 1923 a new war broke out against the Ottoman Empire, lasting until 1926 and securing Italian control over the Middle East. The annexation of Saudi Arabia in 1927, Yemen in 1928, and Oman in 1929 were the final colonial acts by the Italian Empire. Within all this progress and conflict came a generation of men born without their fathers or brothers. Therefore in 1934 a military coup occurred in Rome. They installed the world’s second communist dictatorship. To gain political support from Africa and Italy, the leaders of the coup formed the Euro-Asian Socialist Republic. Now the EASR stands ready to continue the Revolution…

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

Russia was a primarily peaceful land from 1836 to the start of the Crimean War in 1854. Massive territorial settlement in Asia and Alaska occurred, and nationalist groups were viciously put down in the 1848 uprising in Finland. With a reformation of labor laws and the freedom of the serfs in 1850, the economy began to boom and Russia seemed on a new, enlightened path.

However, in 1854, at Napoleon III’s behest, Russia pressed claims for unity of the Eastern Orthodox Church and launched an invasion of the Balkans and Turkey. Though the minor nations of Wallachia and Moldava were easily annexed by the advancing Russian armies, the entry of Prussia, Austria-Hungary, and England in the war caused serious complications. Major campaigns were fought all along Russia’s western border, even at the gates of St. Petersburg itself when the English landed a small army there. With the blood spilled came great rewards for Russia. Considerable influence was gained over Turkey, though this was squandered over the next few years. In addition Germany was forced to turn over control of East Prussia and most of Poland to the Czar. Austria lost a large portion of its border provinces, sparking the Hungarian Uprising of 1860.

Upon the end of the Crimean War Russia began a series of reforms under Alexander II, who proceeded to form the Duma, the Russian equivalent of Parliament in 1869. Although the system allowed for only the wealthy to vote, those who held wealth in most of the rural villages often spoke for the town as a whole. As a result, Russia remains one of the most stable monarchies in the world to this day.

Russia’s newfound democracy was challenged in 1880 when war broke out between Russia’s ally Italy and the newly formed Germany. Once more massive fighting broke out on Russia’s lengthy border. Though the Italians were the first to reach Berlin and Vienna, Russia once more knew victory. This time instead of taking land Russia demanded only tribute in the form of mechicanical parts and German engineering support for the blooming Russian industrial sector.

After the end of the war against Germany in 1882, Russia turned its attention eastward. Numerous islands in the Pacific remained unclaimed, and the Czar realized their potential if Russian colonists could beat the Japanese and the British to claim these islands. Therefore in the next twenty years Russia seized Midway, Wake Island, and numerous other islands, and fought a brief war against the Netherlands in 1890, taking Borneo and half of New Guinea away from the Dutch. After the Italians’ defeat at the hands of the Japanese in 1897, the Czar realized that Japan would remain a consistent threat in the Pacific towards Russian claims if not dealt with. Russian demands for the end of Japanese expansion lasted until 1902, when Japan invaded and annexed Korea. War immediately broke out between Russia and Japan, and both sides won and lost major battles. The war ultimately was a stalemate, ending in 1906 with neither side able to inflict a telling defeat on the other. Despite this, numerous islands did exchange hands.

One more war would be fought against the Japanese in 1922 to help unite the people of Russia after the divisions caused by the Red Uprising in 1919. This war was a clear Japanese victory, after the Japanese seized the city of Vladiostock in their 1924 campaign in east Russia. Several more islands exchanged hands, this time in the Japanese’s favor.

The tensions caused at home by the Red Uprising and the failed 2nd Russo-Japanese War sparked another uprising by the Finns in 1931. This revolt was harshly suppressed by Russian military forces. Now Russia is the largest country in the world, and has former enemies on all borders. On top of this, the nationalist Finns are looking for any weak spot in the Czar’s resolve. Time will show Russia’s proper place in the world…

 

[Wubba360]

since there is alot going on in the americas lately could we have some history on a few of the nations in that general area

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

hmmmm, well USCA history is boring quite frankly, but i guess perhaps we could do one for the CSA or Mexico.

 

[Wubba360]

well its up to you but it would be interesting to find out the country behind the leader

 

[jeps]

Turkey would be helpful (ARMENIA!) as would Austria-Hungary-Yugoslavia

 

[JosefStalinator]

I would be very interested in once again playing as the CSA (yet again!) if this opens in the near future.

 

[jeps]

This NES has opened and had two updates already.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=187271

This is just history, so we can learn about our nations and not make the same mistake I did.