It takes a Great War, to build a Great Empire

[Sharwood]

Since I’ve been inspire by Weird bug’s Stalin story, I’ve decided to write my own story. This is set in the WWI scenario, Prince Level, as the Central Powers. This post will be huge, but they’ll probably get smaller afterwards. Enjoy.

Aug 1914: Panama Canal officially opened.
Russian attacks on Konigsberg fail, but successful field manoeuvres causes them to almost completely surround the city on the landward side. The Ottoman Empire, despite not being at war with the Italians themselves, demands that the Central Powers declare war on Italy, no doubt hoping to regain Libya and the Dodecanese. When Kaiser Wilhelm II balks at this foolish request, and refuses to give them the Austro-German art of Sanitation due to their ungrateful nature, they cancel the alliance. They do remain at war with Russia and France however. They fight several naval engagements with Russia in the Black Sea, with mixed results.

German forces launch a successful attack on Russian troops near Teutoburg forest, with the aid of guns borrowed from a battleship docked in Konigsberg. Austro-Hungarian troops suffer heavy casualties, including one whole unit of infantry, but successfully storm Belgrade, effectively establishing control over Serbia. With his ally defeated, and Russia’s offensive failing, Tsar Nicholas II signs an armistice with the Central Powers. Soon after a peace treaty is also signed, confirming pre-war boundaries, with the exception of Serbia, which is incorporated into Austria-Hungary. This treaty also covers the Russian satellite Romania.

Free to concentrate on the Western Front, Kaiser Wilhelm II unleashes his army in a plan he designed himself. This plan comes to be known as the blitzkrieg – literally, lightning war. Austro-German troops quickly overwhelm Belgium, taking Liege and Brussels. This violation of Belgian neutrality gives the Britain the excuse it was looking for to enter the war on France’s behalf. German troops quickly eliminate British soldiers at Calais and Dunkirk, but fearing that they will be flanked by British troops attacking from The Netherlands, the German Fleet stationed at Kiel bombards Amsterdam into submission from the sea, while artillery overcomes Dutch fortifications. With the fall of The Netherlands to Germany, Switzerland signs an alliance with the United States, which declares war on the Central Powers over this new blatant violation of neutrality. Germany follows this up by bombarding Copenhagen and Swedish fortifications, in an effort to intimidate these states into staying out of the war.

With British and Dutch forces neutralised, German troops push on to Paris, which succumbs after an intense bombardment. In a move that shocks and horrifies the world, German troops outflank the French forces waiting on the German border, then proceed to conquer all metropolitan France in a single 30day period, excepting the two cities of Marseilles and Lyons. France’s own railway system is used to Germany’s advantage, with new tracks laid in order to take Nancy.

Sep 1914: Albert Einstein becomes Director of Berlin Institute of Physics.
Fearing that Austria-Hungary may take action against it in the same way that Germany has done against neutral nations in Northern Europe, Italy signs a peace treaty with the Central Powers, renouncing its claims to Trieste and Dalmatia. Britain successfully bombard troops stationed near Brest, and wins several engagements with German ships in the English Channel, but loses others in the North Sea.

Austro-German forces put down revolts in all major French, Serbian and Dutch cities, then successfully take Marseilles and Lyons. In just two months, Kaiser Wilhelm’s blitzkrieg has conquered all of metropolitan France! A shudder runs down the spines of all Germany’s enemies, as well as Russia and Turkey. The fall of Switzerland convinces the United States to cut its losses, and it also signs an armistice with the Central Powers. September closes with a few victorious German naval engagements in the North Sea and the English Channel.

Oct 1914:
A British submarine in the North Sea sinks its German counterpart. Britain wins a naval battle in the Channel. Germany responds by destroying several British in Norwegian coastal waters. German soldiers continue to recover from casualties sustained during the blitzkrieg, while crushing the last ounce of Swiss and French resistance. Preparations are made for a naval assault on Britain, which refuses all efforts at communication.

Shockingly, I've lost almost no units thus far. Only a few ships and submarines, with barely half a dozen ground units. I guess it's realistic, since if either side had of successfully broken the line in WWI there wasn't much in the way of reserves to stop them, but damn, I don't think I've ver gotten this lucky.

 

[Sharwood]

Time for the second round of combat.

Nov 1914:
Russian fighters are seen patrolling the border with East Prussia.
Several German destroyers and submarines and submarines are destroyed in a naval engagement with the British near the Danish coast. This battle comes to be known as the Battle of Jutland. The Central Powers respond with the Battle of the Peloponnesus, where the Austrian fleet destroys a British Mediterranean naval group. Amsterdam is reinforced pending a suspected bombardment by the Royal Navy.

Dec 1914:
The suspected bombardment occurs. One infantry brigade is wiped out when their billet takes a direct hit from a British battery, causing it to collapse. Otherwise, the German forces successfully fend off the bombardment. The Turks lose a battle to the Russians in the Caucasus. Russia, Italy and Turkey all make suspicious troop movements. After receiving threats from the mighty Central Powers they all back down from their aggressive actions. Then Germany shocks the world once more.

Once again using a plan Kaiser Wilhelm drew up himself, the German Fleet bombards London, suffering heavy losses. But it effectively destroys the garrison defending Great Britain’s capital city. Then, for the first time since the Normans invaded under William the Conqueror in 1066, a successful invasion of England occurs. It is known as Operation: Sealion. London falls. Next, German cavalry units advance on Leicester, when a British envoy requests an audience. The man not only threatens the victorious Germans, he actually has the temerity to demand that Germany declare war on its former allies the Ottoman Empire, and that Kaiser Wilhelm pay an indemnity for “befouling lands that are naturally ours!” The German Expeditionary Force for Operation: Sealion, under the command of General Erich Ludendorff, is positively incredulous, and responds by taking Leicester. The British then repeat their demands, this time increasing the amount of the indemnity! General Ludendorff naturally refuses. A German cruiser unsuccessfully engages a British counterpart in the Bay of Biscay.

Jan 1915:
Italian fighters patrol the territory near Trieste.
In desperation, the Royal Navy bombards Kiel and Brest, hoping to cut Ludendorff’s supply lines. These assaults meet with limited success at best. The German Fleet responds by destroying a British transport ferrying troops to France. The audacity of the British in attempting such a manoeuvre with their homeland being invaded is deeply admired in all the countries of the Central Powers, but naturally such information is kept out of the newspapers. The last thing Austro-Germany needs is for the French to revolt in expectation of British help.

Despite the admiration they feel for their enemies, General Ludendorff’s Expeditionary Force continues with its invasion, taking Liverpool, then Bristol, Plymouth, before finally entering Scotland and bombarding Edinburgh into submission. The British respond by demanding a greater indemnity at each turn. Ludendorff laughs at such actions, but his respect for the British deepens as they continually resist the far more powerful Central Powers. A new Expeditionary Force is formed in Amsterdam under the command of Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg. This is for the new Operation: Scotch Whiskey, an assault on the British naval base at Scapa Flow, while the invasion of Ireland – which, despite its hatred of the English, has still refused all calls to “throw off its shackles” and join the Central Powers – Operation: Sealioness, will be conducted by Erich Ludendorff.
A German U-boat sinks a Royal Navy Submarine in the North Sea. The first German fighter aircraft squadron is commissioned, and sent to the former Eastern Front, due to continuing suspicious Russian activity.

I'm still faring pretty damn well, casualty wise. My main concern at the moment is hunting down the British submarines I know are in the North Sea, so my Scapa Flow invasion force doesn't meet an untimely end. I'm also concerned about the final assault on France, as their huge fleet is still out there, and I'm pretty sure it's bottling up the Mediterranean. With only Trieste, Sarajevo and Marseilles as potential naval bases from which to launch an attack, it's beginning to look like I may have to invade Italy prior to invading North Africa. That could be risky, since I'd also come up against the Italian Navy, which I'm sure is comprised mostly of NONE units, meaning Taking mainland Italy - which shouldn't take me more than two turns, at the absolute maximum - won't get rid of them. I also have to take Athens, which means either a naval assault, or taking some troops through Macedonia. And then there's Russia, which looks more and more like it's planning a sneak attack.

Whatever I decide to do, this is looking interesting. I may have an absolute crapload of troops and productive capacity, but my gold reserves are low and I'm spread very thin, so it could come crashing down if Russia and turkey make peace and have a crack at me simultaneously, which would most likely cause Italy to attack Trieste, which it seems to be eyeing off.