das
Regeneration In Process
Random Events:
A combination of classical rip-offs and militaristic propaganda result in the general rise of hopes for victory amongst the Imperial population (+1 Culture, Confidence). A volunteer Scandinavian corps joins the Imperials as well (+5 divisions).
Remaining wounds and disagreements from the "Cold War" are mostly healed in Canada (+1 Culture).
The new Scandinavian Prime Minister Olaf Krake gains great support for his anti-war campaign, as the Scandinavian commerce and living standards suffered unacceptably during it (+1 Confidence).
After a military coup d'etat against the defeatist Rajput emperor, General Vishwanath Pratap Singh took over the Empire and rallied it to one last battle (+1 Culture, +1 Confidence).
A breakthrough is achieved in Japan with the discovery of a new element, nihonium. It is unclear what its practical applications would be, but this and the other breakthroughs bolster Japanese pride and technocratism (+1 Culture).
A major rebellion in Deccan gains popular support (+15 irregular divisions).
Emperor John/Ioann IX proclaims a crusade against the "blackhearted tyrant who reigns in Paris" (+1 Confidence).
Bad weather damages the Canadian infrastructure (-1 Infrastructure).
Encouraged by the government's apathy, the Canadien and other ethnic minorities in PUNF grow increasingly bold in their separatism (-1 Culture).
Scandinavia's living standards just keep detiriorating undeterred (-1 Living Standards)...
Seguian ethnic minorities are being riled up by Imperial agitators (-1 Culture).
Badawin economy is weakened by the general decrease in regional commerce due to war and chaos (-1 Economy).
A combination of sabotage, commerce raiding and unexpectedly high war expenses grind away at the HRE's economy (-1 Economy).
Spotlight:
The Empires Strike Back.
"War is not hell - it is the purgatory. Heaven or hell shall come afterwards."
- Jebediah North, Canadian writer and philosopher, "Horse That Was Red". Year 1856.
As the Second Worldwar entered its third (the British say fourth) year, it was still far from conclusion. For three years, as more and more countries joined this war, more and more fronts appeared, more and more military and economic forces were put into the fray; but all-in-all, the war was far from decided, and both sides scored major victories over the war's course, major, but none of them decisive. All hopes were for a decisive conclusion in 1786; alas, these hopes were ill-founded. But nevertheless, at least in Europe, the balance between the two vast military coalitions shifted in Russian favour considerably.
The year's start, if anything, was a one that favoured the Imperials however (this was before Scandinavia withdrew from the war and the Russians re-invaded North Sea). Though the Way of the Peace rebels in Iberia and Italy were expecting an Imperial offensive, they certainly weren't ready for the offensive that DID come - at the price of greatly weakening both the Krakowian positions by redeploying a hefty portion of the Imperial force in Ukraine (not the Imperial troops under Polish command, though) and the Imperial naval supremacy by commiting major naval and even greater aerial assets to these operations, Emperor Valerien managed to score a huge and rapid victory over the rebels. Acting with synchrony and coordination worthy of the Japanese Imperial Army, the Imperials bombarded the key rebel-held cities from the skies and where possible from the seas, Lisbon ruined as part of counterinsurgency operations for the second time in its history; Foreign Legionnaries stormed into the half-ruined Lisbon to finish the job, and elsewhere captured Ostia and Naples; and a combined arms offensive, utilizing the machine gun-equipped armoured cars to gun down the rebels on the move, soon secured the key urban areas previously under rebel control (albeit the armoured cars proved less than reliable in uneven terrain; clearly much improvement is needed). The Imperials showed no mercy in the occupied territories; all those associated with the WotP, and all those who have even slightly hindered the Imperial war efforts, were executted en masse in public squares. It was crude, but efficient; in the cities at least the resistance was crippled, and several WotP leaders that were caught were also killed, though others escaped into the countryside, where a guerrila war ensued. With it the Imperials dealt methodically, "pacifying" etat after etat. This was one of the best counter-insurgency operations in human history; the experience gained there would later be used against an ill-organized Egalitist rebellion in Bern and a rash German nationalist rebellion in Brandenburg (the least assimilated part of Germany); both were crushed. Though some dismissed these victories as entirely insignifcant and the rebels as very weak in any case, and said that by concentrating forces on these "pacifications" the Imperials allowed the Russians to advance considerably in their February Offensive, by crippling these insurgent movements the Imperials have ensured the safety of France Proper and generally strenghthened their domestic positions. This also had the favourable side-effect of large Imperial forces being present in the southern Prefectures just when they were needed there most.
In the string of Imperial diplomatic defeats of 1786, the worst was definitely the one in Constantinople. Ever since the First Worldwar, when the French held back the Byzantines and prevented (or, as it turned out, delayed) their conquest of the Levant, there were bad feelings left between the Byzantines and the Imperials; these feelings were mutual, as Byzantine meddling resulted in horrific casualties in the Battle of the Bosphorus in that distant war. Still, to save her husband's young empire, Regentess-Basilissa Irene II re-signed the alliance with the French, and assisted them - inconsequentially and incompetently - in the last few campaigns of the First Worldwar. Then followed what was widely known as the "bad peace" - between the Byzantines and the French it was even worse, as it was a "bad alliance". While working along with the Holy Roman Emperor, young Basileus Ioann IX was naturally indignant, as were many other Byzantines, at the "usurpation of the Roman throne". The Byzantines grumbled, ofcourse, but they didn't act - they remained Imperial allies, both out of fear of retribution and out of preoccupation elsewhere, and possibly just because the time wasn't quite right yet. 1786 was indeed probably the best year to finally act - the Byzantines had already at least temporarily fulfilled their agenda elsewhere, having annexed Romania and the Levant, and leased Alexandria, and now were ready to strike against the Holy Roman Empire - embattled on all fronts, overstretched and incapable of properly defending from every potential traitor - and its Krakowian allies. An ambitious plan was drafted, based both on the works of such Byzantine military theorists as Georgios Kounabi and on the military experiences of the Imperials and the Japanese, and some others. The Byzantine forces got into positions (and out of Egypt) and struck.
It is best to begin with their southernmost move - the invasion of Sinai. There is little to say about it, though, the peninsula and the Egyptian Canal itself were largely undergarrisoned at the present due to vital Foreign Legion operations elsewhere, and using the surprise effect as well as they could, the Byzantines charged through North Sinai, and, despite many armoured cars simply breaking down, seized the town of Al Qantarah and from there moved to gradually take control over the entire width of the canal. The Imperial commerce in the region just wasn't fated to recover, it would seem, and neither was the Imperial sea power. This was confirmed by the later naval battle at Capo Passero, during which, despite some unexpected early casualties, the Byzantines largely dispersed the outnumbered Imperial Mediterranean Fleet and then landed in Sicily. Operations there and in Malta, Sardinia and Corsica were largely succesful in spite of popular resistance, although the invasion of Sardinia was under threat when the Imperial fleet re-formed and had to be defeated again at Golfo di Cagliari. This was surprisingly easy; by contrast, other operations were more difficult than expected. For instance, almost an entire Byzantine corps was eliminated on the beaches of Barcelona, having drunkedly (metaphorically-speaking) stumbled into a large Imperial garrison and a fanatical Catalan militia force. In North Africa the Byzantines succesfully worked with some of the Berbers, though most there remained loyal to the Emperor, having prospered greatly under his rule; in the end, the feeble Imperial garrison of Tunis was overpowered, and the coastal regions of northern Tunisia and eastern Algiers were largely overran; however, further advances were prevented both by low Byzantine manpower in the region and by the lingering Berber and Imperial (after redeployments) resistance. In the end, thus, the far western campaign wasn't nearly as succesful as hoped, the Byzantines having underestimated the Imperial strenght and control in the region and overestimated their own forces; however, the achievement of naval supremacy was very important in its own right.
Meanwhile, another Byzantine invasion took place in Italy. Having placed much hope on the WotP assistance, the Byzantines knew that this campaign would be more difficult than first expected; yet again, they had underestimated the Imperial military presence. As in the infamous war with the Pope several decades ago, the Byzantines landed in Apulia at the very beginning of their war and here overcame the initial Imperial resistance with the help of the surviving post-WotP partisans; yet despite good tactics, especially in the mountains, the Byzantines were soon fought to a grinding halt by the superior Imperial numbers; despite a daring initial capture of Naples, the Byzantines were pushed out of there by an armoured offensive, and were soon forced to abandon Foggia as well. However, despite being beaten back to Apulia, the Byzantines were far from beaten, as they introduced more forces into the campaign; an amalgamated corps (mostly survivors of Barcelona) launched a diversionary attack on Anzio, distracting the Imperials, while the Fifth Army, having already forced its way through extremelly lightly-protected Croatia, had pushed into Austria and northern Italy. This meant that major Imperial forces were busy retaking Anzio while the Byzantines quickly bottled them up south of the Po. Again, however, they ran into a simple problem of insufficient manpower; this forces the cancellation of many further operations in favour of containing the Imperials in Italy and systematic elimination of their forces. The latter goal wasn't achieved yet, and the severing of all supply routes merely made the Imperials passionately hated in Italy due to the "requisitions" made. Thus this campaign too had stalemated, the Byzantines forced to limit themselves to aerial and naval bombardments and minor advances.
Yet even then, the Byzantine entry into the war alone - and moreso in combination with the wrecking of Imperial naval power in the Mediterranean and the capture of the Egyptian Canal - was enough to considerably shift the balance of the war. However, the Byzantines launched another crucial offensive this year...
Back in Russia of earlier this year, when the Byzantines were yet to join the battle, the Russians had repeated their last year moves by raising a huge, barely-suppliable army and unleashing it all in the February. This time the Krakowians and the Imperials - who DID keep a pretty large force to help the Krakowians here, albeit without any armoured cars or Foreign Legions - were ready for the Russians, although strangely unprepared either for the Cossack raids beyond the Pripet Marshes or for the Russian guerrila risings. Still, these were mostly nuisance. The Poles have readied pretty good defensive positions in both Lithuania and the Ukraine, utilizing state-of-the-art modern weaponry, including primitive flamethrowers that, though mildly hazardous to their crews, were even more hazardous to the enemy. The Russian February Offensive was a wide-front one; with terrible casualties, however, it quickly bogged down in both Lithuania and the Belarus; in Ukraine, where Suvorov took personal command after initial failures and where the greatest concentration of the Russian forces was present, the offensives continued. The key advantage of superior numbers was the possibility to cover all the directions in defense or offense; and eventually, the key West Ukrainean city of Khmelnitsky was recaptured. Beyond that, however, no gains could be made; the Russian casualties in the fighting here were very high, and the troops were exhausted; a Krakowian counterattack was only barely defeated. As the spring came, the roads were ruined by the mud, and the front again stalemated. Russian morale was low; though this was apparently a victory, it was a Pyrrhic one, while the Krakowian casualties were much lower and their main forces remained intact. It was then that the Byzantines struck in the soft underbelly of Krakow - Hungary.
With the help of the resurgent Hungarian separatists, the two Byzantine armies had little trouble blitzing through Croatia, the Great Hungarian Plain and Transylvania (there the Byzantines almost entirely replicated the last year's Imperial offensive plan, only with less troops); both Buda and Pest were captured, and as already mentioned the Byzantine Fifth Army went on to secure the Alps. The Third Army, meanwhile, went onwards to north Carpathians, although there it had been stopped, both by loyalist (mostly South Slav, but also pro-Union Hungarian) rebellions behind its lines and by the Krakowo-Imperial reaction force. The counterattack on Pest was defeated, however. And in the meantime, a Byzantine detachment struck northwards into Galicia, damaging the Krakowian supply routes there.
Thus in May, as things begun to dry up, a new Russo-Byzantine offensive begun. Though gains in Lithuania were mostly superficial, the Russians once more concentrated on the Ukraine, while the Byzantines, after safeguarding Buda and Pest, invaded Galicia again and also struck into the Krakowian rear. Under threat of encirclement, the Krakowians had to retreat from the Ukraine, in a fighting retreat across the Pripet Marshes and the Carpathians, conceding Bukovina as well. In a highly-symbolic gesture, the Russian forces, though badly drained by the recent fighting, entered Ternople - this meant that the Russian army, after a few months of interval, was in Krakowian territory again (even though Lithuania was held on to and the breakthrough in Galicia was far from completely succesful). Perhaps more important, practically-speaking was the fact of Byzantine capture of much of Hungary; this new southern front has been sucking in ever more Krakowian forces, and possibly the opportunity to crush Krakow between Russia and Byzantium has not yet completely disappeared.
Yet in general, this year too was indecisive. Neither side was crushed, although both won some important battles. Accordingly, dissent is growing, and the people clamour for victory... This war is becoming a one of attrition despite the best Byzantine efforts, and the economies of both sides are struck in the process. Already, some prophesize that the next century will belong to the EUA, the only great power that yet stayed out of war, while others say that the Japanese, who are winning campaign after campaign with ease, shall soon conquer the war-weary Europe (as was popularized in the archparanoid novel "The Rising Sun"). It remains to be seen if the next year shall see that "decisive culmination" everyone thought would come in this one.
NPC Diplo:
OOC:
Am officially switching to Dis' system for troops, as it makes more sense than the rather confusing system I had since dividing troops by training levels and until now (so all new divisions are two training levels lower than the average of those divisions of their type already in existance).
For the sake of realism, it should be assumed that not all the ships in casualties are actually destroyed; some of them are very severely damaged and take lots of money and time to repair. Otherwise the war in the North Sea would seem rather unrealistic, both sides destroying and building ships at a fiendish pace; they still do if we accept this condition (similarily to the similar condition for the divisions), but not this badly.
I realize that I forgot to add some details in that some might consider important. Sorry, in most cases I just couldn't find either time or space where I could fit that in (updates take time, you know); feel free to ask for clarification.
[1] Port Kristian, until 1754 Porto Jose, in OTL - Port Hartcourt.
A combination of classical rip-offs and militaristic propaganda result in the general rise of hopes for victory amongst the Imperial population (+1 Culture, Confidence). A volunteer Scandinavian corps joins the Imperials as well (+5 divisions).
Remaining wounds and disagreements from the "Cold War" are mostly healed in Canada (+1 Culture).
The new Scandinavian Prime Minister Olaf Krake gains great support for his anti-war campaign, as the Scandinavian commerce and living standards suffered unacceptably during it (+1 Confidence).
After a military coup d'etat against the defeatist Rajput emperor, General Vishwanath Pratap Singh took over the Empire and rallied it to one last battle (+1 Culture, +1 Confidence).
A breakthrough is achieved in Japan with the discovery of a new element, nihonium. It is unclear what its practical applications would be, but this and the other breakthroughs bolster Japanese pride and technocratism (+1 Culture).
A major rebellion in Deccan gains popular support (+15 irregular divisions).
Emperor John/Ioann IX proclaims a crusade against the "blackhearted tyrant who reigns in Paris" (+1 Confidence).
Bad weather damages the Canadian infrastructure (-1 Infrastructure).
Encouraged by the government's apathy, the Canadien and other ethnic minorities in PUNF grow increasingly bold in their separatism (-1 Culture).
Scandinavia's living standards just keep detiriorating undeterred (-1 Living Standards)...
Seguian ethnic minorities are being riled up by Imperial agitators (-1 Culture).
Badawin economy is weakened by the general decrease in regional commerce due to war and chaos (-1 Economy).
A combination of sabotage, commerce raiding and unexpectedly high war expenses grind away at the HRE's economy (-1 Economy).
Spotlight:
The Empires Strike Back.
"War is not hell - it is the purgatory. Heaven or hell shall come afterwards."
- Jebediah North, Canadian writer and philosopher, "Horse That Was Red". Year 1856.
As the Second Worldwar entered its third (the British say fourth) year, it was still far from conclusion. For three years, as more and more countries joined this war, more and more fronts appeared, more and more military and economic forces were put into the fray; but all-in-all, the war was far from decided, and both sides scored major victories over the war's course, major, but none of them decisive. All hopes were for a decisive conclusion in 1786; alas, these hopes were ill-founded. But nevertheless, at least in Europe, the balance between the two vast military coalitions shifted in Russian favour considerably.
The year's start, if anything, was a one that favoured the Imperials however (this was before Scandinavia withdrew from the war and the Russians re-invaded North Sea). Though the Way of the Peace rebels in Iberia and Italy were expecting an Imperial offensive, they certainly weren't ready for the offensive that DID come - at the price of greatly weakening both the Krakowian positions by redeploying a hefty portion of the Imperial force in Ukraine (not the Imperial troops under Polish command, though) and the Imperial naval supremacy by commiting major naval and even greater aerial assets to these operations, Emperor Valerien managed to score a huge and rapid victory over the rebels. Acting with synchrony and coordination worthy of the Japanese Imperial Army, the Imperials bombarded the key rebel-held cities from the skies and where possible from the seas, Lisbon ruined as part of counterinsurgency operations for the second time in its history; Foreign Legionnaries stormed into the half-ruined Lisbon to finish the job, and elsewhere captured Ostia and Naples; and a combined arms offensive, utilizing the machine gun-equipped armoured cars to gun down the rebels on the move, soon secured the key urban areas previously under rebel control (albeit the armoured cars proved less than reliable in uneven terrain; clearly much improvement is needed). The Imperials showed no mercy in the occupied territories; all those associated with the WotP, and all those who have even slightly hindered the Imperial war efforts, were executted en masse in public squares. It was crude, but efficient; in the cities at least the resistance was crippled, and several WotP leaders that were caught were also killed, though others escaped into the countryside, where a guerrila war ensued. With it the Imperials dealt methodically, "pacifying" etat after etat. This was one of the best counter-insurgency operations in human history; the experience gained there would later be used against an ill-organized Egalitist rebellion in Bern and a rash German nationalist rebellion in Brandenburg (the least assimilated part of Germany); both were crushed. Though some dismissed these victories as entirely insignifcant and the rebels as very weak in any case, and said that by concentrating forces on these "pacifications" the Imperials allowed the Russians to advance considerably in their February Offensive, by crippling these insurgent movements the Imperials have ensured the safety of France Proper and generally strenghthened their domestic positions. This also had the favourable side-effect of large Imperial forces being present in the southern Prefectures just when they were needed there most.
In the string of Imperial diplomatic defeats of 1786, the worst was definitely the one in Constantinople. Ever since the First Worldwar, when the French held back the Byzantines and prevented (or, as it turned out, delayed) their conquest of the Levant, there were bad feelings left between the Byzantines and the Imperials; these feelings were mutual, as Byzantine meddling resulted in horrific casualties in the Battle of the Bosphorus in that distant war. Still, to save her husband's young empire, Regentess-Basilissa Irene II re-signed the alliance with the French, and assisted them - inconsequentially and incompetently - in the last few campaigns of the First Worldwar. Then followed what was widely known as the "bad peace" - between the Byzantines and the French it was even worse, as it was a "bad alliance". While working along with the Holy Roman Emperor, young Basileus Ioann IX was naturally indignant, as were many other Byzantines, at the "usurpation of the Roman throne". The Byzantines grumbled, ofcourse, but they didn't act - they remained Imperial allies, both out of fear of retribution and out of preoccupation elsewhere, and possibly just because the time wasn't quite right yet. 1786 was indeed probably the best year to finally act - the Byzantines had already at least temporarily fulfilled their agenda elsewhere, having annexed Romania and the Levant, and leased Alexandria, and now were ready to strike against the Holy Roman Empire - embattled on all fronts, overstretched and incapable of properly defending from every potential traitor - and its Krakowian allies. An ambitious plan was drafted, based both on the works of such Byzantine military theorists as Georgios Kounabi and on the military experiences of the Imperials and the Japanese, and some others. The Byzantine forces got into positions (and out of Egypt) and struck.
It is best to begin with their southernmost move - the invasion of Sinai. There is little to say about it, though, the peninsula and the Egyptian Canal itself were largely undergarrisoned at the present due to vital Foreign Legion operations elsewhere, and using the surprise effect as well as they could, the Byzantines charged through North Sinai, and, despite many armoured cars simply breaking down, seized the town of Al Qantarah and from there moved to gradually take control over the entire width of the canal. The Imperial commerce in the region just wasn't fated to recover, it would seem, and neither was the Imperial sea power. This was confirmed by the later naval battle at Capo Passero, during which, despite some unexpected early casualties, the Byzantines largely dispersed the outnumbered Imperial Mediterranean Fleet and then landed in Sicily. Operations there and in Malta, Sardinia and Corsica were largely succesful in spite of popular resistance, although the invasion of Sardinia was under threat when the Imperial fleet re-formed and had to be defeated again at Golfo di Cagliari. This was surprisingly easy; by contrast, other operations were more difficult than expected. For instance, almost an entire Byzantine corps was eliminated on the beaches of Barcelona, having drunkedly (metaphorically-speaking) stumbled into a large Imperial garrison and a fanatical Catalan militia force. In North Africa the Byzantines succesfully worked with some of the Berbers, though most there remained loyal to the Emperor, having prospered greatly under his rule; in the end, the feeble Imperial garrison of Tunis was overpowered, and the coastal regions of northern Tunisia and eastern Algiers were largely overran; however, further advances were prevented both by low Byzantine manpower in the region and by the lingering Berber and Imperial (after redeployments) resistance. In the end, thus, the far western campaign wasn't nearly as succesful as hoped, the Byzantines having underestimated the Imperial strenght and control in the region and overestimated their own forces; however, the achievement of naval supremacy was very important in its own right.
Meanwhile, another Byzantine invasion took place in Italy. Having placed much hope on the WotP assistance, the Byzantines knew that this campaign would be more difficult than first expected; yet again, they had underestimated the Imperial military presence. As in the infamous war with the Pope several decades ago, the Byzantines landed in Apulia at the very beginning of their war and here overcame the initial Imperial resistance with the help of the surviving post-WotP partisans; yet despite good tactics, especially in the mountains, the Byzantines were soon fought to a grinding halt by the superior Imperial numbers; despite a daring initial capture of Naples, the Byzantines were pushed out of there by an armoured offensive, and were soon forced to abandon Foggia as well. However, despite being beaten back to Apulia, the Byzantines were far from beaten, as they introduced more forces into the campaign; an amalgamated corps (mostly survivors of Barcelona) launched a diversionary attack on Anzio, distracting the Imperials, while the Fifth Army, having already forced its way through extremelly lightly-protected Croatia, had pushed into Austria and northern Italy. This meant that major Imperial forces were busy retaking Anzio while the Byzantines quickly bottled them up south of the Po. Again, however, they ran into a simple problem of insufficient manpower; this forces the cancellation of many further operations in favour of containing the Imperials in Italy and systematic elimination of their forces. The latter goal wasn't achieved yet, and the severing of all supply routes merely made the Imperials passionately hated in Italy due to the "requisitions" made. Thus this campaign too had stalemated, the Byzantines forced to limit themselves to aerial and naval bombardments and minor advances.
Yet even then, the Byzantine entry into the war alone - and moreso in combination with the wrecking of Imperial naval power in the Mediterranean and the capture of the Egyptian Canal - was enough to considerably shift the balance of the war. However, the Byzantines launched another crucial offensive this year...
Back in Russia of earlier this year, when the Byzantines were yet to join the battle, the Russians had repeated their last year moves by raising a huge, barely-suppliable army and unleashing it all in the February. This time the Krakowians and the Imperials - who DID keep a pretty large force to help the Krakowians here, albeit without any armoured cars or Foreign Legions - were ready for the Russians, although strangely unprepared either for the Cossack raids beyond the Pripet Marshes or for the Russian guerrila risings. Still, these were mostly nuisance. The Poles have readied pretty good defensive positions in both Lithuania and the Ukraine, utilizing state-of-the-art modern weaponry, including primitive flamethrowers that, though mildly hazardous to their crews, were even more hazardous to the enemy. The Russian February Offensive was a wide-front one; with terrible casualties, however, it quickly bogged down in both Lithuania and the Belarus; in Ukraine, where Suvorov took personal command after initial failures and where the greatest concentration of the Russian forces was present, the offensives continued. The key advantage of superior numbers was the possibility to cover all the directions in defense or offense; and eventually, the key West Ukrainean city of Khmelnitsky was recaptured. Beyond that, however, no gains could be made; the Russian casualties in the fighting here were very high, and the troops were exhausted; a Krakowian counterattack was only barely defeated. As the spring came, the roads were ruined by the mud, and the front again stalemated. Russian morale was low; though this was apparently a victory, it was a Pyrrhic one, while the Krakowian casualties were much lower and their main forces remained intact. It was then that the Byzantines struck in the soft underbelly of Krakow - Hungary.
With the help of the resurgent Hungarian separatists, the two Byzantine armies had little trouble blitzing through Croatia, the Great Hungarian Plain and Transylvania (there the Byzantines almost entirely replicated the last year's Imperial offensive plan, only with less troops); both Buda and Pest were captured, and as already mentioned the Byzantine Fifth Army went on to secure the Alps. The Third Army, meanwhile, went onwards to north Carpathians, although there it had been stopped, both by loyalist (mostly South Slav, but also pro-Union Hungarian) rebellions behind its lines and by the Krakowo-Imperial reaction force. The counterattack on Pest was defeated, however. And in the meantime, a Byzantine detachment struck northwards into Galicia, damaging the Krakowian supply routes there.
Thus in May, as things begun to dry up, a new Russo-Byzantine offensive begun. Though gains in Lithuania were mostly superficial, the Russians once more concentrated on the Ukraine, while the Byzantines, after safeguarding Buda and Pest, invaded Galicia again and also struck into the Krakowian rear. Under threat of encirclement, the Krakowians had to retreat from the Ukraine, in a fighting retreat across the Pripet Marshes and the Carpathians, conceding Bukovina as well. In a highly-symbolic gesture, the Russian forces, though badly drained by the recent fighting, entered Ternople - this meant that the Russian army, after a few months of interval, was in Krakowian territory again (even though Lithuania was held on to and the breakthrough in Galicia was far from completely succesful). Perhaps more important, practically-speaking was the fact of Byzantine capture of much of Hungary; this new southern front has been sucking in ever more Krakowian forces, and possibly the opportunity to crush Krakow between Russia and Byzantium has not yet completely disappeared.
Yet in general, this year too was indecisive. Neither side was crushed, although both won some important battles. Accordingly, dissent is growing, and the people clamour for victory... This war is becoming a one of attrition despite the best Byzantine efforts, and the economies of both sides are struck in the process. Already, some prophesize that the next century will belong to the EUA, the only great power that yet stayed out of war, while others say that the Japanese, who are winning campaign after campaign with ease, shall soon conquer the war-weary Europe (as was popularized in the archparanoid novel "The Rising Sun"). It remains to be seen if the next year shall see that "decisive culmination" everyone thought would come in this one.
NPC Diplo:
OOC:
Am officially switching to Dis' system for troops, as it makes more sense than the rather confusing system I had since dividing troops by training levels and until now (so all new divisions are two training levels lower than the average of those divisions of their type already in existance).
For the sake of realism, it should be assumed that not all the ships in casualties are actually destroyed; some of them are very severely damaged and take lots of money and time to repair. Otherwise the war in the North Sea would seem rather unrealistic, both sides destroying and building ships at a fiendish pace; they still do if we accept this condition (similarily to the similar condition for the divisions), but not this badly.
I realize that I forgot to add some details in that some might consider important. Sorry, in most cases I just couldn't find either time or space where I could fit that in (updates take time, you know); feel free to ask for clarification.
[1] Port Kristian, until 1754 Porto Jose, in OTL - Port Hartcourt.
Worth waiting for. It's a bit unfair of Segu to turn our own forts against us 
