Insane_Panda
Deity
I don't know what the PoD is... (nor will I ever find out on my own)
but I do know that that is some excellent writing. Great work, das!
but I do know that that is some excellent writing. Great work, das!
The Newest History and the Life of Kurt Weisser
- Thread starter das
- Start date
das
Regeneration In Process
Well, USP is the one in Louisiana, anyway.
It DID in OTL. For a while. Unless you mean the OTHER William.
BUT, it IS a Medieval PoD. Borderline Dark Age-Medieval, actually, you know, 10th-11th centuries.
Conquered, assimilated.
It DID in OTL. For a while. Unless you mean the OTHER William.
BUT, it IS a Medieval PoD. Borderline Dark Age-Medieval, actually, you know, 10th-11th centuries.
Conquered, assimilated.
Insane_Panda
Deity
With NES2 III dying, you should make a NES of this!!
jalapeno_dude
AKA Panda Judo Eel
I'd rather see a By A Single Decison NES...
Yellowbelly
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2004
- Messages
- 63
My guess is that Mohanned - or his absence - is the PoD
das
Regeneration In Process
Yes. Besides, we have the Muslim Persia, amongst other things. We also have the Sikhs...
The Byzantines, hint, only recovered much of those territories in the late 17th-mid 18th centures.
IC:
Chapter One - The Thunder before the Storm - January 2nd 1910-July 13th 1913.
"War or peace - what is worse, that is the question."
- Attrib. to Holy Roman Emperor Wilhelm V Holander (1917).
---
The Life of Kurt Weisser.
The first three years of the life of Kurt Weisser were quite uneventful. Little Kurt was quite healthy, and as he was the only child in his family, he got a lot of attention, especially for the time. He was of middle-class descent, his mother Karla Weisser (previous Geffen) was a house-keeper from a factory clerk's family, his father Otto Weisser was a retired Holy Roman Imperial officer (a lieutenant, served in Tunisia when things nearly got to a war with the Manche Empire).
Future historians would often claim that a special aura surrounded Kurt Weisser since his birth, but, even if it was so, nobody who saw him when he was young felt it, not even those who would feel it, much later.
---
The Newest History.
Ever since the end of the Burgundian Partition Wars in 1883, there were no major "coalition" wars - at best, two great powers would back some less great powers against each other. At first, it was due to the sheer human and material cost of that war, when machine guns were first employed and when the first trenches in the modern sense of the word were built, to ravage the landscapes of Bosnia, Hungary, Catalonia, Pommerania and, ofcourse, Burgundy. But later, it was because the status quo was largely convenient for European monarchies (and republics). In times of war nowadays, they judged from the BPW, concessions often have to be made to liberal and radical (or even, god forbid, demosist and anarchist!) demands. And is some silly Styria or any foolish Transronia [a strip of lnad in OTL south France west of the river Rhone] really worth the weakening of the government's power?
Yes, there were occasional wars, but nothing more large-scale and long then the three-year Second Slavic-Byzantine War. But mostly, this line of thought resulted in relative peace and stability for Europe.
But that could not last forever. Pragmatism and conservatism were weakening as the 20th century began, whilst nationalism was on the rise. Suddenly, the Manche politicians began to shout about Transronia again. Suddenly, the Hungarians remembered of the humiliation that followed the Gorgean War and the end of the Hungarian Empire, and of their eventual defeat in BPW, and of Styria and Serbia that were still looked upon, if unofficially, as ancient Hungarian possessions. Suddenly, Byzantine students marched to the "Palace of Constantine" in Constantinople, but with nationalistic slogans of 1911 rather then pacifistic ones of 1906. Suddenly, General Poljanski made the pan-Slavic speech in Riga, calling all the people of Welikoslavia to volunteer to assist the Czech struggle for independance - and, indeed, the Czechs were rioting in Prague, causing Emperor Wilhelm V to order in the army.
Much to China's credit, there wasn't a lot of such (often ultra) nationalistic sentiment there - only the traditional arrogance. The Chinese barely had anything to be angry about, anyway, and thus China was the only great power untouched by those sentiments.
And so, to the call of their people, the governments of nations too began to prepare for war. Alliances were hastily signed. The Holy Roman Empire needed allies against the Manche Empire should it strike - and against the probable Manche allies in Welikoslavia. So they found one in the Byzantine Empire, and hoped to find one in Hungary - yet the Hungarians were already approached by the Slavs who persuaded them that Hungary doesn't really have anything to do with Russian territory, whilst Byzantium and HRE held Serbia and Styria, respectively. But HRE also made some headway in negotiating with Flanders and Iberia, and persuaded the Goteborg Union to remain neutral.
As said before, the Slavic diplomats were not taking this lying down. And neither did their Manche counterparts. Cooperation of Hungary was secured; the same was done with Persia and La Plata, and with Nilatea. The alliances - the preliminary ones, anyway - were set. As tensions suddenly and rapidly increased, all that was needed was a spark to lite the fuse.
It came when on July 13th 1913 a Byzantine probe attack to test the strenght of the Slavic armies on their border succeeded beyond its mastermind's wildest expectations.
The Byzantines, hint, only recovered much of those territories in the late 17th-mid 18th centures.
IC:
Chapter One - The Thunder before the Storm - January 2nd 1910-July 13th 1913.
"War or peace - what is worse, that is the question."
- Attrib. to Holy Roman Emperor Wilhelm V Holander (1917).
---
The Life of Kurt Weisser.
The first three years of the life of Kurt Weisser were quite uneventful. Little Kurt was quite healthy, and as he was the only child in his family, he got a lot of attention, especially for the time. He was of middle-class descent, his mother Karla Weisser (previous Geffen) was a house-keeper from a factory clerk's family, his father Otto Weisser was a retired Holy Roman Imperial officer (a lieutenant, served in Tunisia when things nearly got to a war with the Manche Empire).
Future historians would often claim that a special aura surrounded Kurt Weisser since his birth, but, even if it was so, nobody who saw him when he was young felt it, not even those who would feel it, much later.
---
The Newest History.
Ever since the end of the Burgundian Partition Wars in 1883, there were no major "coalition" wars - at best, two great powers would back some less great powers against each other. At first, it was due to the sheer human and material cost of that war, when machine guns were first employed and when the first trenches in the modern sense of the word were built, to ravage the landscapes of Bosnia, Hungary, Catalonia, Pommerania and, ofcourse, Burgundy. But later, it was because the status quo was largely convenient for European monarchies (and republics). In times of war nowadays, they judged from the BPW, concessions often have to be made to liberal and radical (or even, god forbid, demosist and anarchist!) demands. And is some silly Styria or any foolish Transronia [a strip of lnad in OTL south France west of the river Rhone] really worth the weakening of the government's power?
Yes, there were occasional wars, but nothing more large-scale and long then the three-year Second Slavic-Byzantine War. But mostly, this line of thought resulted in relative peace and stability for Europe.
But that could not last forever. Pragmatism and conservatism were weakening as the 20th century began, whilst nationalism was on the rise. Suddenly, the Manche politicians began to shout about Transronia again. Suddenly, the Hungarians remembered of the humiliation that followed the Gorgean War and the end of the Hungarian Empire, and of their eventual defeat in BPW, and of Styria and Serbia that were still looked upon, if unofficially, as ancient Hungarian possessions. Suddenly, Byzantine students marched to the "Palace of Constantine" in Constantinople, but with nationalistic slogans of 1911 rather then pacifistic ones of 1906. Suddenly, General Poljanski made the pan-Slavic speech in Riga, calling all the people of Welikoslavia to volunteer to assist the Czech struggle for independance - and, indeed, the Czechs were rioting in Prague, causing Emperor Wilhelm V to order in the army.
Much to China's credit, there wasn't a lot of such (often ultra) nationalistic sentiment there - only the traditional arrogance. The Chinese barely had anything to be angry about, anyway, and thus China was the only great power untouched by those sentiments.
And so, to the call of their people, the governments of nations too began to prepare for war. Alliances were hastily signed. The Holy Roman Empire needed allies against the Manche Empire should it strike - and against the probable Manche allies in Welikoslavia. So they found one in the Byzantine Empire, and hoped to find one in Hungary - yet the Hungarians were already approached by the Slavs who persuaded them that Hungary doesn't really have anything to do with Russian territory, whilst Byzantium and HRE held Serbia and Styria, respectively. But HRE also made some headway in negotiating with Flanders and Iberia, and persuaded the Goteborg Union to remain neutral.
As said before, the Slavic diplomats were not taking this lying down. And neither did their Manche counterparts. Cooperation of Hungary was secured; the same was done with Persia and La Plata, and with Nilatea. The alliances - the preliminary ones, anyway - were set. As tensions suddenly and rapidly increased, all that was needed was a spark to lite the fuse.
It came when on July 13th 1913 a Byzantine probe attack to test the strenght of the Slavic armies on their border succeeded beyond its mastermind's wildest expectations.
das
Regeneration In Process
Comments? 10 characters.
blackheart
unenlightened
Keep. Going.
das
Regeneration In Process
Oui. I plan a bit of a less-history book chapter next time.
Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
das said:You sure you don't mind living under Polish control?
I'm not a 100% Finn nationalist. So long as they don't start to put Finns into concentration camp's, i'm happy.
tossi
Der kleine Prinz
I realy realy like this story! More more more! THIS should be the next NES II.
Btw: What is the "Manche Empire"?
Btw: What is the "Manche Empire"?
das
Regeneration In Process
Manche is the dynasty that rules England and France. Abit like "Hapsburg Empire" was the name of Austria till the Napoleonic Wars.
IC:
Interlude - July 13 1913.
JULY 13TH 1913.
Near Sukumi, Welikoslavia
In the lowlands so rare for Caucasian regions, all was, until a certain moment, quiet. One could barely tell that within the city, a Welikoslavian division was stationed. One could tell quite clearly, after that certain moment came, that a Byzantine division was here as well, though.
---
Wladimir was taken aback when suddenly, the boring patrol duty turned into something very important. Field artillery began pounding the city, it was much strogner then during the last war.
Instinctively, he knew it was the Byzantines. He ran towards the city, hoping to warn General Moseszky. But a shell exploded near him, and shrapnel cut into his back. He died, to the thunder of artillery, to the pounding of the hooves of many horses and the somewhat distant sound of startled yells coming from the city.
---
As Patrokles and his cavalry moved to outflank the city, the infantry, in their violet uniforms, began to move out, knowing (or perhaps, more like hoping?) that the Slavic forces had no time to recover under the efficient artillery barrage. This was not a mere test of strenght for the Byzantine Empire, but also the testing of the new assortment of weaponry in an actual combat situation. For example, the new mountain aritllery, as well as the heavy railroad guns (these were rather risky, as there was only one railroad along the Black Sea coast), and the smokeless rifles.
The startled Slavs only then began firing on the cavalry. Patrokles noticed a steaming machine gun, and pointed right with his sable, they needed to spread out and try to avoid the... machine guns.
The machine gun began firing before all the Byzantines were safely out of distance, and it was very bloody. Patrokles certainly did not expect these to be as good as that, he expected something like those of the last war...
The last war... He remembered that day quite clearly, that day in Theodosiya. Most civilians were by then evacuated, and a small garrison, including him (he was "demoted" to infantry back then due to the garrison running out of horses), was holding out just barely, under the constant artillery fire, the rains of bullets. The machine guns were much bigger and much harder to deploy back then.
His blood felt cold. Was it inside him or outside him? Barely mattered. He aimed with his rifle and fired, hiting one of the gunners. Luck. Simple luck.
---
Moseszky felt very, very bad. He shook his head - the daring of the Byzantines put him out of balance. Adjutants scurried around.
'Who would have thought...' - thought Moseszky - 'Who would have thought that they would dare attack us?'
Nobody, was the answer. Nobody, was the reason of Byzantine success.
"Find Skrzynezcki!" - he told a nearby adjutant. Maybe we still could save the situation... - "Tell him to take positions against their main forces! We MUST be ready to halt their advance!"
He found another adjutant.
"Tell all commanders but Skrzynezcki to..."
Artillery fire, loud artillery fire, quited the general. A shell apparently landed in a building next to the one used as the divisionary headquarters.
Moseszky sighed in relief.
"Tell all other commanders," - he finished - "to stop panicking. The cavalry attack is a diversion."
He was quite right.
---
"Patrokles is dead." - said the adjutant to General Ioann Ithakas. The elderly general shook his head.
"How few remain..." - he whispered. But regained himself quickly. - "The cavalry?"
"It is retreating."
"Good. Intensify the artillery fire. Remind them of Theodosiya".
---
The shell slipped into the lengthy barrel of the artillery gun. It fired, as if it coughed, the shell flew forth and slammed into the old city wall, of the days of Queen Tamara of Georgia. Another shell, with the white Cyrillic letters "Theodosia" followed it soon, exploding loudly and killing at least two Slavs. The Slavic infantry took up positions just outside of the city and further in it, and on the walls, and all with their automatic rifles. Yet these were rather outdated, they still showed smoke - not that that mattered in an open battle very often...
---
The Byzantine infantry marched forth. The first ranks stopped, aimed from their knees and fired, whilst the others marched on, and then, after the first volleys, charged onwards. The first ranks, now turned into last ones, joined the charge - the former second ranks then stopped and fired. The Slavic machine gun was silenced by a well-thrown grenade by one of the charging soldiers. Byzantine artillery was now dueling with the Slavic one.
The Byzantines fired at the Slavs, and stormed the first line. There were many casualties, but they made it. Nobody expected such a fierce breakthrough.
The Byzantines were fueled by anger and revanchism, by hatred. No feeling unites a populace like hatred does. They HATED Welikoslavia, hated it for the humiliations of the previous war, and another "Theodosia" shell fell down amidst the second Slavic defense line, on the wall itself, the wall which was now collapsing, as were the Slavs.
Slavic cavalry tried to outflank the Byzantines, but to no avail - the Byzantine one avenged its commander in full in its wild charge.
---
The Slavs failed to defeat, stop or slow the Byzantines. With hatred, disciplinne, technology and surprise effect, the Byzantine soldiers overcame all four lines, and broke into the city. The civilian population, mostly Georgians but some Slavs (Russians? Poles? It was not easy to make a difference nowadays...) was hiding in their houses.
---
As the sun was beginning to fall on the distant horizon, and as artillery fire stopped, and as most of the Slavic army retreated out of Sukumi, he heard the shots in the house itself.
He took the pistol and calmly fired into his ear.
'We saved what we could... whom we could.'
The sunny Georgian summer gave way to rain and blood. The skies were no longer as bright.
War came to Europe, the lights were put out throughout the world, and no man of that generation ever saw them on again.
Yellowbelly
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2004
- Messages
- 63
OK, another try: could there have been European settlement in N. America in the 9th. or 10th. century. I'm thinking Brendan the Navigator or Bjarni Hjalvarssen - or even Hjalvar himself - as the PoD.
das
Regeneration In Process
No... the colonization began later then in OTL ITTL actually.
Reno
The Studio Ghibli Fanatic
Yes, Norwegian Vikings were in New foundland somewhere around the 10'th centuary. But not too permanent.
tossi
Der kleine Prinz
Very good! Keep it coming .
Manche sounded so oriental to me...
.Manche sounded so oriental to me...
das
Regeneration In Process
Depends on the accent. Its French, actually. And read like Mans in La Mans. Only this is different due to the different evolution of French (and English) languages, or ratehr due to the different (and more francified) English spelling of that word.
tossi
Der kleine Prinz
Oh well I chose latin instead of france in school (bad choice btw)
(bad choice btw)
