Update 4 (18) - Year 1784
Non-Military Events:
A series of breakthroughs propell EUA and Japan into a new age (EUA, Japan in Late Industrial Age)!
After about three years of nearly uninterrupted chaos, the Imperial-sponsored Treaty of Lyon finally puts an end to the PUAF Wars (or, according to the pessimists, puts an end to their first phase - as indeed there still are some issues left undecided), all the sides involved accepting them with one or another degree of grudgingness; as this is a compromise, nobody is really satisfied, but all the interested sides could live with it, for now anyway. The PUAF, dead since 1781, has now been buried and left to rest in peace; after much debate, it was finally decided to go with the "four-state solution". In addition to Provinces Unie de la Nouvelle Francaise and the Provinces Unie de la Occitan, the Provinces Unie de la Frontiere was created in the western plains, while in the north, the Provinces Unie de la Canada are formed, a bilingual state due to the coexistance of Anglo- and Francophones. All the four "Provinces Unie", however, remain bound by a set of treaties towards each other and the Holy Roman Empire; they are not allowed to get out of this system, and the Imperial government made it very clear that it will not permit any unions with other states; as Britain is severely embattled, this was clearly directed at the EUA.
Though the treaty itself was generally accepted by all but the most diehard supporters of the PUAF and the various annexationist groups in the Frontiere, the precise borders resulted in some controversy, both due to being "unnatural" and due to leaving supporters of one or another state on the wrong side; this was especially problematic on the PUO-PUF borders and in the Ottawa Valley in Canada which was granted to the PUNF. Nevertheless, both the Imperials and the EUA - the two key intermediating powers - imposed this decision.
Speaking of the EUA and the HRE, the Nouvelle Orleans Accident as it was redubbed seems to have been mostly forgotten by both governments - the former not really having much to gain from trying to pursue that conflict further, the latter having bigger fish to fry; nevertheless, EUA issued an official apology, paid some reparations and President Balthazar Garzon stepped down in favour of his Vice-President Nicanor Montalva (+1 Confidence). In the HRE, failure to "avenge Nouvelle-Orleans" caused an initial outrage in nationalist circles (-1 Confidence), but it was largely swept over later on by the events back in Europe.
Despite Imperial fears, Canada does not go Egalitist, although it generally has become something of a political refuge for some of the more radical politicians unaccepted elsewhere in post-PUAF America, and several mildly left-wing reforms were put into place after Steven Van der Laaden - no longer Egalitist, but a "Popularist" for political reasons - was elected president with the assistance of the Liberty Party. Also, despite some grave predictions, only minor ethnic strife took place thus far, possibly because the Francophones and the Anglophones alike are busy recovering from the war. PUNF also begun to lean leftwards with the election of Vespasien Lucien, though he is even more moderate than der Laaden and fails to do much at all yet, though Renaud by now became unpopular enough for his removal alone to improve public morale (+1 Confidence); also, with the loss of the discontent territories, almost all the separatist minorities were lost as well (+2 Culture). PUF remains divided, but at the Austin Convention held soon after the Treaty of Lyon, former warlord and new Premier Guillaume Surcouf succesfully brought most factions together, though at the price of sacrificing much central authority (-1 Centralization, Civilian Leadership). Lastly, the PUO, though certainly shaken by the recent developments, celebrated the repeated failure of several enemies to force the abolition of slavery; it also begun a military-driven public work of epic proportions, yet again rebuilding Charleville (though it will take some time for it to regain its past prosperity) (+1 Culture). Generally speaking, the region finally calmed down, as reconstruction begun (+1 Confidence to each post-PUAF state).
As relations between EUA and the HRE are restored, trade picks up again (+Caracas economic center), whilst years of industrial development and modernization in California pay off (+San Francisco economic center). On the darker side, however, the Americans too have been struck by terrorism; taking advantage of a Carribean hurricane which happened to do some damage to the American Atlantic Fleet, the terrorists planted a few bombs in the confusion, sinking at least one ship and damaging several others; the resulting panic and the generally heavy amount of damage recently inflicted upon the ships by Imperial artillery, storms, hurricane and now this have temporarily paralyzed the American Atlantic fleet as it needed to be repaired, and the culprits - found.
Several peculiar outbreaks of dengue took place throughout Europe (peculiar because mosquitoes aren't very widespread in Europe, generally-speaking; then again, dengue is a notoriously unpredictable and little-known disease, so its hard to tell anything).
Despite fierce propaganda and genuine outbursts of nationalism (+1 Culture), the British war effort becomes ever more expensive (-1 Economy), and the massive recruitment (+30 conscription divisions) cause rapidly growing dissent (-2 Confidence).
The Imperial economy is beginning to feel the strain of maintaining military operations all over the world (-1 Economy). On the brighter side, the support for the HRE, even in Germany, is at an all-times high due to efficient propaganda, rallies and the creation of the Imperial Civil Socities (+1 Culture).
Finland declares a crusade versus Russia (+1 Culture).
After much deliberation and despite some last-moment protests, the Hungarian government, still on the ropes after the Transylvanian Insurrection, agrees to unite the (previously vacant) throne of Hungary with that of Poland; the Union of Krakow is reborn, although it is a completely different state - a monarchic union, rather than a military republican federation (Poland and Hungary merged, stats fiddled with).
Bucharia - former Bucharest - is largely rebuilt by the Byzantines, and begins to flourish again (+Bucharia economic center).
Massive shipbuilding efforts have been undertaken by Russia, in a grand show of its new, militarized industrial might; also, the reservists who had been preparing for this moment are called up, doubling the Russian army size (+80 divisions, -1 Army Training). Maintaining such a huge military still does strain the economy somewhat (-1 Economy).
As Egypt moves further away from monarchy, it is renamed into the Egyptian Union; also, conscription is introduced, all of the sudden (+30 conscript divisions, -1 Confidence).
Scandinavia also cuts ties with Segu; this isolation is beginning to hurt Seguan trade very badly (-Niamey economic center).
Anti-French jingoists demand that Sulia honour its alliance with Egypt and its destiny of rebuilding the Portuguese African Empire, and reconquer Namibia and Mozambique.
Abdul Almasra's attempts to persuade the southern Arabian tribes to join Badawistan fall on deaf ears.
After years of patient investment and development, Jinan is transformed into an industrial powerhouse (+Jinan economic center), as is Nanjing, also taking in some of Shanghai's trade (+Nanjing economic center); clearly the Chinese industrialization program is paying off. Meanwhile in Qingdao, the Chinese police arrested several "Manchurian" weapon-smugglers of various nationalities.
Japan leaves the French alliance system, suddenly embracing neutrality. Though back in Japan, this wasn't really noticed - as cooperation with the Holy Roman Empire never was all that close anyway - back in the European HRE there are growing anti-Japanese sentiments, especially after the recent Japanese "unprovoked aggression" and the spread of rumours about the Japanese being behind the Indian Ocean "submarine pirates"; Japan's neutrality seems particularily suspicious as Japan continues to infiltrate the Indian Ocean economically and politically. It must be noted however that this "divorce" was an amiable one, if only because of diplomatic tact.
Saigon becomes PUASE's primary port (+Saigon economic center).
As the Imperials continue to abandon their more faraway colonies, Nouvelle Gaulle and Corse Noveau were sold to the flourishing South Seas Company.
Military Events:
The remnants of the British fleet took to piracy, harrassing enemy fleets and supply routes, and simply attack commerce. Generally-speaking, it wasn't terribly effective, but it did actually save a large portion of the British fleet as it spread out across the Atlantic, and for the most part evaded interception.
(-5 British ship squadrons, -2 Scandinavian ship squadrons, -1 Imperial ship squadron)
Though the transition to normalcy in the Frontiere didn't go nearly as well as hoped, the "Austinists" rallied around Guillaume Surcouf and defeated (or driven to the underground) most enemies of the Convention.
(-1 PUF division, -1 PUF irregular division)
The slave rebels in Florida and the thereabouts were crushed with brute force by the Southern Guard; though a few of the rebels are still hiding from law, most are either dead or fled abroad. Though they put up a fierce fight, they proved no match for the Guard (+1 Army Training for the UU).
(-2 PUO Southern Guard divisions)
British Patagonia surrendered to EUA without much of a fight, though Americans suffered some losses to attrition. Falklands and other nearby islands surrendered as well after a few bribes to the bored "colonists".
(-4 British divisions, -1 EUA division)
With exasperating stubborness, the British refused to surrender, although their patriotism is beginning to show cracks under the grinding strain of warfare (-1 Culture). Albeit resistance movements were active in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, they fail to do much of real importance, as the British have established quite a military presence everywhere in the Isles and thus managed to quickly crush the Irish rebellion on March 17th of this year. But that is an aside; the Imperial focus this year wasn't on Ireland, nor were the French quite ready to mount a full-fledged invasion across the La Manche. Instead, they struck at Scotland; though the British prepared heavy defenses everywhere, that wasn't quite as easy in the mountainous, guerrila-infested Highlands, and generally Aberdeen wasn't really expected by the British to become a major target for the Imperials. So after taking out the local coastal artillery, the Imperials charged in with naval artillery support, and, though with many casualties, broke through the enemy defenses and, supported by Scottish rebels (+5 Imperial irregular divisions), overran the Highlands and invaded the Lowlands. There the British put up a fiercer resistance, throwing hordes of men to stem the Imperial advance; ultimately the assault on Glasgow was repulsed, and the Imperials, now outnumbered, fell back to the mountains, where they could fight back properly with highlander assistance. It would have been a matter of time had it not been but a distraction; while the British were trying to retake the Grampian Mountains, the Imperials struck again, this time - in southern England. Their onslaught begun from the sky; having learned from the Aberdeen experience that coastal artillery is still a formidable anti-naval weapon (though not quite as formidable agianst battleships), the Imperials knocked out the coastal artillery from the air, then proceeded with joint naval and aerial bombardment of defenses in Dover. The Dover Castle itself was levelled by aerial bombardment. Finally, after thecity was thoroughly wrecked, the Imperials landed, pushed out the remaining British defenders and refortified Dover for their own nefarious purposes, while the airfleet, having proven its might, went on to bombard London heavily; though the industries themselves were damaged only lightly, the airfleet concentrated on the administrative buildings. The Whitehall Palace - the main royal residence - was completely wrecked, and King George III himself perished during the bombing, as did several other members of the royal household (-1 Civilian Leadership). Nonetheless, the British soldier on...
(-12 British divisions, -7 British conscript divisions, -3 British Home Guard divisions, -14 Imperial divisions, -2 Imperial irregular divisions, -3 Imperial ship squadrons, -1 Imperial air squadron)
Meanwhile, Russia joined the fray, after protesting both the Imperial attacks on Britain and the Polish union with Hungary...
Early in the war, the Russians suffer a series of naval defeats to the numerically-superior enemy fleets. An attempted breakout into the North Sea cost the Russian Baltic Fleet many ships both due to the mines and the Scandinavian coastal artillery, and the Scandinavians managed to outmaneuver and obliterate it in the much-celebrated Battle at Fakse Bugt; it allowed the Scandinavians to win single-handedly the control over the Baltic Sea (+1 Culture) and consequently use it to capture Gotland, the Alands, Dago and Osel islands. Meanwhile, though the massed Imperial fleet in the Mediterranean failed to catch the Russian Mediterranean Fleet fast enough as it redeployed to the Black Sea, this time the Byzantines, though not overtly hostile to Russia, were far more cooperative than in the previous time (in the First Worldwar, when the French fleet had to fight its way through the Bosporus whilst under unceasing Russian barrage), forcing the Russians to vacate Byzantine national waters and then letting through the Imperial fleet. The Imperials far outnumbered the Russians and managed to outflank and crush them at the island Berezan, although some of the smaller ships escaped into the delta of the Dnieper. The Imperials then proceeded to assault and capture Odessa, and later Sochi as well, under the cover of their huge armade's artillery.
(-3 Imperial Foreign Legions, -9 Imperial ship squadrons, -4 Imperial sub squadrons, -1 Imperial capital ship, -7 Scandinavian ship squadrons, -2 Scandinavian sub squadrons, -3 Russian divisions, -26 Russian ship squadrons, -8 Russian sub squadrons, -3 Russian capital ships)
However, things went horribly wrong for the Imperials and their allies when later, in the spring, they (the Imperials only, in this case) sent out a fleet to capture Arkhangelsk. Much to their surprise, they were confronted by a simply huge Russian fleet at the small Norwegian island of Rolvsoya. Apparently, while Arkhangelsk was icebound - and probably in the previous year as well - the Russians concentrated the efforts of their mighty military industry to build up a vast fleet at Arkhangelsk and in other White Sea ports. Once the spring came and the harbours were unbound, the Russians launched their belated strike; outnumbering the Imperials heavily, the Russians wiped out nearly the entire attack force in a furious battle and proceeded southwards. As the Imperials and the Scandinavians learned of this, they - having already achieved naval supremacy elsewhere - begun to form together an uberfleet of their own. Iere FLOTTE of the Holy Roman Empire and nearly the entire Scandinavian navy gave battle to the Russians at Weddenzee; or, more specifically, the flotte lured the Russians into a trap, as the Scandinavians attacked it from behind. That however was not enough to compensate the Russian numerical supremacy after the fortunate victory at Rolvsoya; the Russian heavy battleships, though not very maneuvrable, could survive greater damage than the French ones, while the Russian submarines only sped up the process of mauling the Imperial fleet. Furthermore, Egalitist sabotage resulted in an otherwise-survivable hit blowing up one of the Empire's stronger ships. Finally, the Imperials despaired and broke off the engagement; using their superior speed, they retreated towards Dunkerque. The Russians fought off the Scandinavians and gave pursuit, which was when the Imperials used their ace - air power. Though most heavy battleships - apart from the really damaged ones - weren't really all that vulnerable to the airship bombardment, the smaller ships took some damage; as bad news came in from Russia (and intelligence reports came in from the HRE...), the admiral decided to disengage and pull back. The initial plan had to be scrapped for a variety of reasons; nonetheless, the Russians were at least temporarily in control of the North Sea, and wanted to make as good a use of it as possible. Accordingly, they landed a force of twenty divisions or so to the Highlands, in coordination with a British counteroffensive. The already-shaking Imperial positions in the Highlands completely broke now that they came under attack from the Russians as well, and Scotland was retaken; later, the Russians also captured the Orkneys and the Shetlands to use as a forward base. The naval war is still in the balance, especially as the British blockade is broken (+1 British Economy).
(-6 British divisions, -5 British conscript divisions, -7 Imperial divisions, -3 Imperial irregular divisions, -41 Imperial ship squadrons, -15 Imperial sub squadrons, -9 Imperial capital ships, -10 Scandinavian ship squadrons, -2 Scandinavian capital ships, -1 Scandinavian sub squadron, -7 Russian divisions, -24 Russian ship squadrons, -14 Russian sub squadrons, -5 Russian capital ships)
Northwestern Russia came under a two-pronged Allied assault. Despite having to change the schedule due to the earlier start of the war, and diverting troops to face the Russians further south (see just a little below, lazy one), the assault begun quite well; Impero-Finno-Scandinavian forces overwhelmed the Russians at Narvensk [1] and Gromsk [2], and Karelia fell into chaos after the loss of its primary center, a Finnish Tavastian Raider commander launching an opportunistic... raid and capturing much of Karelia with the help of local nationalists (+5 Finnish irregular divisions). Meanwhile, in the southwest, with HRE's aerial backing, Impero-Krakowian forces defeated the Russians at Bialystok and Grodno, taking advantage of the Russian concentration on the other front, and, now also with some Lithuanian insurgent (+5 Krakowian irregular divisions) and later naval assistance, capture Vilnius and Kaunas. As the Russian forces were unprepared for such a major offensive with this much manpower in this region, the rest is quite easy, the two prongs linking up at Pskov and also taking Novgorod. A brief debacle occured when 30 new divisions were redeployed by the Russians to the theatre and defeated a part of the invading force at Vologda, but the Allies recovered and took it at the second go, though the enemy still managed to retreat in good order. The Allies had no time to finish him off, however, as alarming news came in from the south...
(-14 Imperial divisions, -1 Imperial air squadron, -7 Scandinavian divisions, -2 Scandinavian Combat Engineer divisions, -6 Finnish divisions, -1 Finnish Tavastian division, -1 Finnish irregular division, -25 Krakowian divisions, -1 Krakowian irregular division, -29 Russian divisions, -4 Russian Cossack divisions)
While the Poles struck to their northeast into Lithuania Proper, the Russians struck southwestwards through Galicia and into Hungary - or at least that was the plan. However, the Krakowians have prepared well for such contingencies, having left a largish reserve and lots of small, but annoying fortresses. The initial Russian assault bogged down quickly, and the Krakowians calmed down, but while they were overruning Lithuania, the Russians brought their new airfleet into the game. Much like the Imperials in Dover, but on a greater scale, the Russians destroyed the fortresses one-by-one with non-stop bombardment and use of heavy artillery. Though it took a complete destruction of Lvov (both by the bombardment and by the ensuing assault) (-Lvov economic center), the Russians eventually broke through to the Carpathians. They came a little too late, however; though earlier in the campaign several of the Hungarian divisions defected (-5 Krakowian divisions) and an anti-Polish rebellion took place in Hungary, by the time the Russians themselves struck into Hungary it was mostly finished off. Still, some of the rebels were there to join the Russians (+2 Russian irregular divisions), and more importantly, there were no Jagiellon "lines" in Hungary. In a storm of dark green, the Russians charged the Impero-Krakowian defenders in the epic Battle at Nyiregyhaza, and, after furious fighting, used their numerical supremacy to outmaneuver their enemy, defeat him decisively and set on a path to Pest, where a new Hungarian rebellion begun (+1 Russian irregular division). Though their supply routes were overstretched and their casualties were terrible, the Russians stood on the Danube, and already threatened Krakow. As this campaign season approached its end, the anti-Russian coalition was fighting its way through Belarus, assisted by local Lithuanians, while the remnants of the defending army tried to perform a slow fighting retreat, trying to win time for defenses to be organized in Krakow itself... While the Russians had to deal with several rebellions behind their lines (+2 Krakowian irregular divisions), the Allied offensive bogged down in the Pripet Marshes, while back in their homeland the Russians recovered from this turn's blows and prepared for next year's campaign (incidentally, both sides exchange eco. levels
).
(-9 Imperial divisions, -1 Imperial air squadron, -3 Scandinavian divisions, -1 Scandinavian Combat Engineer division, -1 Finnish division, -12 Krakowian divisions, -2 Krakowian irregular divisions, -24 Russian divisions, -5 Russian Cossack divisions, -1 Russian irregular division, -2 Russian air squadrons)
Well, not any time soon anyway. I will however continue this IT until some decisive conclusion (or if it dies on me for one reason or another, I'll find a decisive conclusion myself 
@ Egypt.
