NES2 VIb - Return of the Chaos.

[Reno]

*Thumbs up for the fall of the Holy Roman Empire of the False Nature*

 

[das]

The line has died and will be buried. Got pretty much all the important orders.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

You got mine right?

Not that they're particularly important.

 

[das]

Don't worry, got them. I still would like to know the status of Azale and Kentharu, though.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Azale forgot orders AGAIN?

YES!!!

Then maybe, from the chaos, the Ottawa valley will join me! Or maybe even the Maritimes! And New England!!!



And das, what would New England be referred to in TTL? Nouvelle Angleterre, or something totally different?

 

[Symphony D.]

OOC: It's always a bother when people don't send orders. You know, at least eventually. And to think kentharu went to war this turn too. On that note, I need to rename a great many places in my nation...

 

[das]

Nouvelle Angleterre, or something totally different?

Nouvelle Bretagne, IRC.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Merci beaucoup das.

 

[Kentharu]

i kinda got banned from the comp (don't ask how im writting this) and i did ask to be npced, could i send a rough outline though?

 

[Insane_Panda]

PWN3D.

@Reno: Everyone says the same thing, unfortunately, none have succeeded

 

[das]

As a cryptic prophecy, I predict lots of collateral damage and huge explosions this turn - possibly more than in all the previous turns, at least in this IT, taken together.

 

[Insane_Panda]

Well, there better not be tons of outrageous terrorist strikes against the HRE. ESPECIALLY since I have ordered for the gendarmerie to act out against that very kind of thing.

 

[das]

Terrorism is the least of your concerns, for once.

 

[Insane_Panda]

Very good. How did we do in the war this turn?

 

[das]

Wait for it, damnit! I assure you, however, that both sides would be harmed in the making of this update.

 

[Insane_Panda]

Which side got harmed more?

Alright, I'll stop.

 

[Reno]

@Reno: Everyone says the same thing, unfortunately, none have succeeded

Indeed, yet atleast. I'll take my chances and see how well I do at it.

 

[Insane_Panda]

THE IMPERIAL MARSHALLATE
A TREATISE ON THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN WARFARE
- 1740-1785 ANNO DOMINI -

France was first among nations to create a separate standing unit dedicated entirely to the rational planning of all aspects of war. From the defeats in the Augsburg War up until the glorious victories against Spain, great military minds, with the support of then-King Julien-François helped to form and firm up the beginnings of the Imperial Marshallate. This major impetus for the formation of such a corps was given by the defeats which France had faced in the Augsburg War against Spain. France, though still at the top of the world, had been defeated quite handily and her ambitions in Germany, aswell as her territories in Catalonia, had been lost. Julien, an ambitious King, had plans for the future, and such plans required that France never again face such defeats - and so was born the Royal Marshallate (now Imperial), the "General Staff" if you will, of the French Armies.

This Marshallate was formed out of the top brass of the French Military, the Marshalls (hence the name), and their duty, as outlined by the King, was to create an effective system of controlling and winning wars for the Kingdom. The Marshallate, lead by the great Marechal du Saxe - a man who had fought in countless minor campaigns throughout the early 18th Century with much success (not having the chance to participate in large-scale operations due to the non-existance of such warfare during the time.), eagerly took to the task, and immediately begin to set up the basis for the extensive staff system of the Royal Marshallate Marshallate.

As early as 1740, when Europe had been largely at peace for several decades and most major nations had no plans for war, observers noted sheaves of orders at the French Royal War Ministry, already made out to cover all foreseeable contingencies and requiring only a signature and a date stamp to be put into effect.

And indeed, that signature and date was soon provided and the wars for the unification of Europe, and the greater World Wars, were hence in control of the Imperial Marshallate, with the King, and later the Emperor, at its helm.

STRUCTURE OF THE MARSHALLATE​

In 1740, as said before, Maurice, comte de Saxe and Marshall General of the Kingdom of France, a widely travelled officer who was a confidante of King Julien-François, was appointed Chief of the Royal Marshallate. Under his control, the real basis and structure of the currently existing staff system was created.

Each year, the top 12 junior officers of the Royal Army were selected by competitive examination to attend the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, the foremost military institution in France, and indeed the world (the motto famously being Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre - they study to vanquish). The academic syllabus at this institution was rigorous enough to fail more than half the entrants. From this elite, Saxe selected the best 12 for his personal training as officers for the Marshallate. These 12 represented the best and brightest military minds in the world, and once inaugurated as officers of the Marshallate, they were introduced to a rigorous system of preparation and training to manage the huge armies of the Kingdom, and then the Empire. They attended theoretical studies, annual manoevres, "war rides" (a system of tactical exercises without troops in the field), and war games and map exercises - and after several years of such rigourous mental and physical excercise, the officers which emerged became true commanders, only now fit to deal with the vast campaigns and military pursuits which their King demanded of them.

Although these officers subsequently alternated between regimental and staff duties, they could be relied upon to think and act exactly as Saxe had taught them when they became the Chiefs of Staff for major military formations. In the victories which the French Army was to gain against Spain and the old Kingdom of Brunswick and League of Augsburg, Saxe needed only to issue brief directives to the main formations, leaving the staffs at the subordinate headquarters to implement the details according to the doctrines and methods he had laid down - resulting in grand formations which characterized both conflicts (notably, the grand French sweep through the Pyrenees in both Catalonia and Euskadi and the breathtaking campaign for Germany). Meanwhile, the Supreme commands of France's opponents could scarely react to such massive operations carried out with such effeciency, for indeed, much of Europe was still stuck in the mentality of the 17th century. From then on, the major military operations of France, and then the Empire, were always characterized by mass amounts of troops moving rapidly throughout the battlefield and smashing all opposition. This was refered to by many satirists of the day as the "Doctrine of Overkill".

Marshallate officers were also distinguished for their selfless devotion to duty, in comparison with the more amateur and sometimes lighthearted attitudes of their German and especially their Spanish counterparts.

Saxe's (and the King's) wide experience also prompted the Marshallate to consider fields of study outside the purely military. Immediately he was appointed, he established a committee which studied and promoted the development of new railway networks within France and incorporated them into its deployment plans, thus laying the basis for the future Imperial Rail system, which crisscrossed throughout the Empire, allowing for easy civilian travel but also for rapid mobilization of the armies of the Empire. He also stressed the need for effecient battlefield communications, for without an effecient means to communicate between armies, there was no way in which the grand campaigns of the Marshallate could be carried out. One of the primary reasons for the invention of the telegraph was do to the needs of the militaries at the time.

The work of the Marshallate was one of the main factors responsible for the unification of most of Western Europe, beginning with the conflicts in Spain. This victory surprised many military professionals around the world, because though France had been considered a Great Power, she was considered to be one among two (or, if some count Portugal, three), with Spain as her main competitor. However, the amazing speed with which the Spanish state disintegrated alarmed and disproved many of the critics, and was an essential factor in the ascendenscy of France, and the subsequent strings of military victories which precluded the formation of the Holy Roman Empire under French leadership and the declaration of Julien-François as Emperor Julien II in the halls of the Tuileries.

THE WORLD WARS AND INTERWAR YEARS​

Saxe, the driving force that he was in the success of the French Kingdom in its wars throughout the mid 18th century (he is regarded by many as the second greatest Frenchmen ever to have lived, second, naturally, to Emperor Julien), was also only human, and soon after the defeats of the Russians in the First World War, he passed away, and in 1756 a new Chief of the Marshallate was inaugurated, Charles François Dumouriez, Marechal de l'Empire.

However, before Saxe had gone, he still had the chance to conduct the campaigns against initially the Russians, and then the Germans aswell in the First World War. Here, many military tacticians noted a marked decline in his capabilities, perhaps the worst of his entire career. Yet it must be stated that at the time Saxe was becoming old and that even if these were his worst performances, they far outclassed any of his opponents and they were also somewhat sabotaged by the "allies" of France (the betrayals of the Byzantine and German nations, though it has been said that the betrayal of Germany was the real catalyst for the French unification of Europe, giving Julien the excuse neccessary to march accross the Rhine.).

The campaigns of the early war, particulary the marine landings (a hallmark of French warefare) along the Baltic and Black Sea coasts, failed spectacularly as German forces cut off essential supplylines and as Byzantine ships stalled the advance into the Black Sea. However, Saxe was nothing if a quick-thinker, and rapidly the forces were redeployed. Within a year, Byzantium was knocked out of the war, and forced to join the French side, and within another year, Germany was devastated, the lands of the former Confederation of the Rhine being returned to France. Russia sued for peace soon after, and les années de mauvaise paix (the years of bad peace) soon set in.

During these thirty some odd years, the now Imperial Marshallate remained somewhat inactive, participating in certain minor campaigns before the onslaught of the revolutions and rebellions of the 60's and 70's. During these turbulent times, the Marshallate, now lead by Dumouriez, fought, with the new Gendarmerie Corps., the war against the French People. The Gendarmerie, the old name of the police force, was formed anew by the Marshallate and Philippe de Terrailon as the civilian wing of the military, for both Terrailon and Dumouriez saw the clear need for a force which could rapidly react and put an end to dire situations on the home front. At home, the Gendarmerie rapidly put an end to Nationalist (and later Egalitist) insurgents, utterly smashing rebels throughout the Empire. Abroad, la Grande Armee rapidly put an end to foriegn insurgents, smashing the radicals in Italy and throughout Europe, the situation finally being resolved at the Prague Convention. For his actions against the nationalists and later Egalitist rebels, Dumouriez has been criticized as somewhat of a military tyrant by foriegn and revisionist historians, yet the wide consensus of both his and de Terrailon's actions are that they were done as a last resort, and were the only actions capable of securing the Empire (Nationalist and later Egalitist sentiments being largely wiped-out by the mid 1780's). Dumouriez, in these years, though never fighting a war on the grand scale, or atleast not yet, had proved himself as a capable, and forecful commander. Valerien, upon his ascendency, confirmed his continuation as Chief of the Marshallate, and conferred upon him several notable honors. Dumouriez, in his style of warfare, was an ardent disciple of Saxe, though perhaps being somewhat more cautious than his predeccessor.

Dumouriez's job, however, was not so easily finished as that - and just as peace was secured at home, it began to fall apart abroad. The ugly beast of Russia began to rear its head, actively mobilizing for its glorious revanche. Valerien, Terrailon, and Dumouriez (refered to as the Triumvirate by later historians) , however, were determined not to allow Russia such a victory, and begin actively planning for war. And war soon broke out in 1784. Immediately, Russia invaded both Hungary and the North Sea - initially achieving huge success. However, these actions were negated by the Imperial and allied actions in Lithuania and Northern Russia, and by the end of the year, much of western Russia was occupied by Allied Forces. The defeats in the North Sea, though shocking (for who had ever defeated the Marine Imperiale?) were phyrric victories for the Russians at best, their fleet still quite small compared to the remaining Imperial Navy - which would only be vastly increased by the great Imperial industrial machine, something which the Russians could not match, though they tried in vain.

Thus began the Second World War, and Dumouriez, though perhaps not as great as Saxe, had proved himself and the new Marshallate quite well in the face of such crisis.

 

[Harleqin]

Those troops don't look particularly French

 

[Insane_Panda]

Indeed, not at all. If you'll notice, throughout my stories I have chosen German Imperial troops instead of French troops to represent the Empire (they generally look nicer and more Imperial-like than the French infantrymen and their giant jackets and trousers)