The Newest History and the Life of Kurt Weisser

[das]

Obviously. I think there are more people who speak French fluently then people who do so with Latin (and neither of these languages was ever a choice in the Israeli school, nor in my current Russian one where its English or German).

 

[das]

Chapter Two - The Historic Times - July 11th 1913-July 19th 1913.

"You know that times are historic when everything begins to happen very fast."
- Eduard Dumas, Manche journalist and politician.

---

The Life of Kurt Weisser.

The rumors of war concerned the Weissers greatly. Firstly, Otto Weisser knew that he could be re-mobilized should the war go poorly at first, or "not as well as hoped". Which it, he concluded, certainly would, to a certain extent. Secondly, they lived in Berlin, in the county of Brandenburg - the BORDER county of Brandenburg. It was too close to Welikoslavia to be saved, unless the Slavic forces are defeated quickly and decisively.

It was in this confusion (not panic, ofcourse, as panic was very rare in the Holy Roman Empire, or so it was said by its ruling circles who indeed had nothing to fear ever since the defeat of King Charles IV the Great) Otto Weisser first learned the word "war". That word will be closely linked with his name in the imagination of millions in the future.

---

The Newest History

On July 11th, the infamous order was finally given to General Ioann Ithakas, the "our only war hero" as he was dubbed by the Byzantine newspapers after the end of the Second Slavic-Byzantine War. Future apologists for Heraclius X (or for Patriarch Niceus, or - rare as they are - for both) would claim that it was Ithakas' fault, that he wanted to "avenge Theodosia" like he often promised. Yet the official version stands.

Ever since 1906, the Byzantine Empire was filled with reforms. The (unofficial, ofcourse) aristocratic nature of the officer promotion was attacked heavily, meritocracy was strenghthened, the army was divided into themal (i.e. regional, mostly for defense/support purposes) and basileal (i.e. imperial, mostly for offensive purposes, or for reinforcing the hard-pressed themal divisions). Military organization was reviewed, more personal initiative was allowed. Minor social reforms were undertaken as well. Of the less pleasant reforms, several old generals and politicians, including Andreas Kolokotronis, a prominent liberal reformer, faced "unfortunate accidents" or disappeared outright. Patriarch of Constantinople, Niceus, incidentally an important conservative politician as well as a spiritual figure, gained huge amounts of influence over the emperor - however, Niceus was also a nationalist, and so he agreed to some reforms to "punish the barbaric Welikoslavians". Much to the north, in Riga, the Sejm took notice of these developments, but did not think Niceus and the emperor would risk a real, full-blown, change-bringing war - they overestimated Niceus' conservatism and underestimated his nationalism.

One has to note also that the Byzantine engineers, amongst the best in the world, were assigned the task of developing new weapons. They were also, for a change, assigned with numerous funds. The "Theodosian turtle" depthship [submarine], the naptharifle [flamethrower], the smokeless gunpowder, the "Hercules" 14-inch cannons, and, ofcourse, the aeroplane - all these were developped in the preparations for "the big war". In 1913, it was decided that it was time for a little test of strenght, to see if the reforms did the Byzantines any real good. Decided by whom is unknown, but probably by Niceus. He hoped to pose it as a border incident, apparently. But all of the sudden, Ioann Ithakas overwhelmed the weak and uprepared Slavic border forces at Sokhumi, Slavic Georgia, took the city and was ready to advance further. Niceus lost control for a while, as Heraclius was eager to take revenge and now saw the perfect opportunity. The Byzantine armies were rush-mobilized, a declaration of war arrived at Riga rather belatedly, and it could have been the Third Slavic-Byzantine War.

But it was not as simple as that. Welikoslavians did not know the disorganized situation in the Byzantine Empire, where nobody was prepared for a war at all, and so they pleaded for help from their Hungarian allies. The Hungarian orszag soon ratified the declaration of war on Byzantium, on July 14th - by then, much of Slavic Georgia was in Byzantine hands. The Guns of July were firing, as on July 16th the Holy Roman Empire mobilized. It was by then obvious that the Manche Empire would enter the war on the Slavic side - the Manche forces were regularily preparing for defense, and numerous forts were erected in the border area with HRE. The HRE, however, had one more card to play - Flanders allowed the HRE forces to attack through its territory, and began to prepare its own armed forces for the battle. By July 19th, formal declarations of war were exchanged between HRE and ME, whilst the war between Welikoslavia and HRE was declared a day before.

The war was on.

 

[tossi]

World War 1 one year too early .

 

[das]

World War 1 one year too early .

I thought the fact that HRE and the Byzantines are allies would be more of a difference from OTL.

 

[Dachs]

I still think it has something to do with Manzikert. It fits the 10th-11th century timeline (1071), and the Byzantines would still be alive...

That's a very cool way to update. Like it so far, keep going!

 

[das]

No, Manzikert WAS a Byzantine victory, but that's not the PoD.

Am writing the next one...

 

[das]

Chapter Three - The Guns of July and Other Months- July 11th 1913-February 2nd 1914.

"The swords are drawn, the first blood is spilled,
Now our destiny shall be fulfilled!"
- General Erich von Welfstein, the "Poet-General".

---

The Life of Kurt Weisser.

The war "went not as well as hoped", just as was feared, and Otto Weisser was re-mobilized soon enough. By then, the Weissers moved to south Saxony [OTL Hannover, i.e. the original Saxony and not the new one] and were safe there lest the Manche forces invade from the sea and advance very quickly and unopposed.

Little Kurt, ofcourse, barely understood what was happening, though he was quite sad, apparently, to notice that his father was suddenly gone. Gone, as noone back then knew, forever.

---

The Newest History.

The war quickly got the title of the "World War One" or the "First Global War" - ofcourse, back then the numbers were not included, as it was hoped that no war of such magnitude would come again.

Indeed, it was fought on many fronts. In North Thulea, the native states - Salish Republic and Iroquois Confederation - remained neutral, yet United States of Philippia were quick to declare for HRE. A long-time claimant to Manche-owned East Philippia, the USP had all reasons to attack it when it was distracted. In South Thulea, there were colonial battles but also La Plata declared war on its old enemy, the Iberians. In Africa, Repengia and Asia, such colonial fighting took place also - but Nilatea and China remained neutral, as did the Indian states (for now). And finally, in Europe, HRE ended up fighting all nations it bordered, minus Flanders which was fighting on its side. The Byzantines were fighting Welikoslavia and Hungary (and, soon enough, Persia). And the Manche Empire had to fight Flanders, HRE and Iberia.

The first eight months were filled with opportunities, mostly missed but some used. These eight months, July-February, were filled with turning points on which our history rests. Ofcourse, even they did not decide the OUTCOME of the war - but they did decide this - the war will be long and costly. Perhaps it did not have to be such. But it was.

Front-by-front review:

North Thulea: The Manche forces in July 20th landed at St. Mariasburg [OTL Quebec City] and at Weissburg [OTL St. John]. The island of Krugerland [OTL Newfoundland] was quick to fall, but General Otto Goethe, commander of HRE forces in Neuland [OTL Quebec+Labrador+much of New England], halted the Manche armies at Neusberg [south from OTL Quebec City] and eventually, by the end of September, the Manche forces evacuated to Krugerland. The Philippine attempts to cross Mississippi into East Philippia were initially unsuccessful, but eventually, heavy artillery allowed the Philippine forces to break through in the south. Cavalry, Manche and Philippine alike, fought remarkably well in the forested and swampy regions of Merringem [OTL Alabama and West Florida], but eventually the Philippine forces reached the Atlantic Ocean, on October 9th. Afterwards, the fighting stabilized, as the Manche forces prevented the fall of the Juan Peninsula [OTL Florida Peninsula] and the north direction was already filled with trenches.

South Thulea: The Manche forces on July 29th succeeded in acquiring Panama, but lost Robertsland [OTL north Columbia and northwest Venezuela] to Iberians by the end of October despite fierce resistance. The Platine-Iberian side of the war was, for the most part, inactive. In July, the Platine forces started an all-out offensive, but it stalemated largely due to logistics. Eventually, the Iberian forces regained the initiative and in late August pushed the Platine forces back. And finally, in January, the Iberians scored a series of major victories in Titicaca region, taking Santa Juan [OTL Antofogasta], whilst trapping Platine forces in a pocket at Peron [a city on southeastern Brazilian coast].

Atlantic Ocean: HRE-Phillippian fleets were prevented from linking up in the Battle of the Bahamas, but the HRE-Flanders fleet warded off Scandinavian and Manche attacks one by one in the North Sea. Iberian fleet was largely decimated at Biscay. By the end of the period, the Manche fleet was, however, the only Anti-Byzantine Coalition fleet capable of serious action, albeit it was a very large one (27 capital ships). USP fleet was badly battered, and no longer mattered, as did the Iberian one, but Flanders had 9 capital ships, whilst HRE had 12. The Flemish fleet secured Platine Atlantic islands.

West Europe: The Iberian forces fought remarkably well against the Manche ones, taking Bilbao by the end of the summer, and on September 12th breaking through at Tarragona. Though losing south Catalonia and Basconia, the Manche forces succesfully held their ground further north in Iberia. However, it was increasingly obvious that, unlike HRE, the Manche army was ill-suited for a two-front war. Two-front, ofcourse, because they had to fend back the HRE assault in the east. Albeit much of Transronia was quickly captured by Manche forces when the war only began, further north, the HRE forces attacked through Flanders and reached Sena, whilst another force, operating from Besanken [OTL Besancon], took, on August 20th, Orleans and eventually Paris as well. Northeast France fell to the HRE control, and the only good news was the victory at Le Havre. As this period ended, the HRE forces were preparing for a new offensive...

Baltic Sea: Welikoslavian-Scandinavian fleet was badly mauled at Visby, and the HRE stormlegionerren sucessfuly occupied several Baltic Sea islands. Using their naval supremacy in the region, the Allemanes set up sea artillery on Gotland and Osel, to block main Scandinavian and Welikoslavian naval bases respectively.

Central Europe (HRE East Front): Here, the HRE was largely on the defensive. Welikoslavia was ill-prepared for war, but Hungary had a long-standing military tradition and was the first to realize that this will be a total war, thus mobilizing all - or as much as they could - industries for war (this "war commandism" [OTL war socialism, i.e. temporary socialization of all or numerous industries for the war effort] was made possible due to the BPW experience AND due to the active reformist Consul Istvan Gorgei). Thus, the Hungarians succesfully invaded Styria and Austria. The string of border fortified towns was seized thanks to active artillery bombardment, followed by a massive charge. By early November, though, the Hungarian offensive stalemated west of Linz - but then, the Welikoslavian army was already quite active. Stanislaw Panipatskiy (a member of the ruling house of Welikoslavia) led Welikoslavian armies, poorly-organized yet numerous, west, overruning East Pommerania. However, he was eventually defeated at Berlin in the first two weeks of January, by Erich von Welfstein, also known as the "Poet-General". Another army, operating in Czechia, was meant to take Prague, but Ostraven [OTL Ostrava] was a pyrrhic victory and so it was not followed up.

East Europe (Hungarian South Front): The Byzantine army was barely prepared in West Balkans when the Hungarian storm came. Luckily, the Hungarian high command regarded the south front as a secondary one, and the triumph of Belgrade was left unfollowed, allowing the Byzantines to regroup. As 1914 began, however, the Hungarians succesfully captured Pristina (January 5th) and Nish (January 9th). The Byzantine forces held quite well against the Welikoslavian-Hungarian pressure in Wallachia, where Strategos Leonidos Katekoi, an artillery genius, succesfully defended Bucharest against the numerous enemy assaults.

Africa: The HRE forces quickly crushed the Manche ones in Tunisia, still in July, whilst the Manche-Platine forces overran Byzantine Meceus [OTL South Africa] and the western parts of Byzantine and Allemane Nyasalands [the two colonies west of lake Nyasa]. There was hardly any fighting elsewhere and elsewhen in Africa... not counting Hungarian Tripolitania. The Hungarians, amidst their egalitarianism of the late 19th century, declared Tripolitania to be an equal part of the Hungarian state, which eventually allowed for better development AND for the creation of patriotic sentiments amongst the natives... or rather, Afromagyars. So, the Hungarian Army of Tripolitania, together with the Manche "Army" of Tunisia, was further joined by local Afromagyar forces - forces that were both patriotic, unlike most colonial armies, and were used to the climate. The Bedouins were especially useful - though less Hungarified, they nonetheless agreed to fight on the Hungarian side (as if anyone asked for their opinion...) and made for excellent raiding and harassment troops. Led by their leader Mohammad Khadari, they almost single-handedly doomed a Byzantine invasion of Tripolitania to humiliating failure in October, whilst the HRE forces were held at bay by the main forces.

Middle East: The Byzantines were quick to exploit their early success in Georgia, and advanced, on one front, to Krasnodar, whilst on the other, to Derbent, by the end of these eight months. Welikoslavian offensives faced succesful Byzantine defenses throughout that period, but further south... Shah Teqwi was grooming his nation and especially his army for a single purpose - a great war, a war that will restore Persia to her rightful imperial glory of the Achamenian and Sassanid days. The former of those fought the Greeks; the latter, the Romans. And now, Teqwids were to fight the Graecoromans, the Byzantines. And so, while the Byzantines fought in Europe, Caucasus and Africa, the Persians struck in August. Fast, mobile cavalry and camelry reached far into the Byzantine territory, and the Muslims there decided that Shiites ARE better then Christians. Marginally, but better. Amidst Arab rebellions in Syria, the Persians also sent in the infantry and the artiller. The Persian army was still rather disorganized, but no longer outdated - the Byzantine ignorance of that fact, and the superior Persian morale and mobility, resulted in the Byzantine defeat at Damascus. Shah Teqwi was proud of his army when on October 25th he arrived in Beirut, to celebrate the Persian victory there. The Persians finally reached the Mediterranean once more. Though the Persians lost Beirut in late November, they eventually regained it in early 1914, and by then, most of Syria apart from the northern extremes surrendered to them.

India: The Iberian hold on their colonies in the region was always rather tenious, and so the Manche had no difficulties there in July. The Flemings, though facing native Bengalese unrest, were better off, and held to the better two-thirds of their territory throughout the eight-month period. Ceylon also warded off all Manche invasion attempts.

Indian Ocean: Mostly quiet, but the local Byzantine fleet defeated the Persian-Manche one at Soccotra in September 2nd-5th.

Repengia: There was sporadic fighting in much of the continent, especially in the desert to where camels were exported for that sole purpose. That, and an Iberian "drive to Meckington" [OTL Whyalla] failed rather pathetically - there were not enough supplies to sustain it, and the offensive made only minor headway.

 

[tossi]

I realy liked the Front-by-front reviews.

More more more!

No comment on the poetry...

 

[Dachs]

Yes! War stories, and this time Grampa Simpson isn't telling them!

Poetry?!?!

 

[ThomAnder]

What's Poland/Russia's stance???

 

[das]

What's Poland/Russia's stance???

As said, its fighting the Byzantine Empire. Its in the story. That was the reason for the war.

 

[das]

No comment on the poetry...

It was a horrible translation, the poet-general is not to blame here. Other then that, I didn't have anything better to use here.

 

[ThomAnder]

Is the PoD the lack of a great schism?

 

[das]

Is the PoD the lack of a great schism?

Which one?

But the PoD is different. There was a MAJOR hint previously, but requires some specific knowledge.

IC:

Interlude - February 3rd 1913.

FEBRUARY 3RD 1914.
Bucharest, Byzantine Empire.

Leonidos Katekoi watched as the mournful trail of refugees left Bucharest. Much of the civilian population retreated beyond the Danube - noone dared intercept them, as the Magyaro-Slavic attacks were, as always, doomed to failure. As were many, many other frontal assaults in modern warfare. The new face of the war was an ugly one, a one where there was little glory. The "parading", colourful uniforms were already abolished within the thema, over Niceus' protests. The gray uniforms replaced them - they were harder to notice in the smoke.

And smoke there was. Not currently - the attacks already stopped, until the spring at least Katekoi expected, and so the small, yet numerous and well-camouflaged artillery guns were well-hidden.

The refugees continued their solemn withdrawal. Some young men stayed behind, however, to help defend Bucharest. Most, if not all, of them were, naturally, Wallachians. Wallachians were rarely sure about whom did they want to support, Slavs or Byzantines, but, when it came to the pinch, they chose Constantinople over Riga. Much unlike their northern brethren...

This was the finest hour of the Themal Army of Wallachia. They now only had Bucharest and a corridor to the Danube. And yet, despite all, they held their ground against numerous foes.

---

FEBRUARY 3RD 1914.
Budapest, Hungarian Republic.

It was a very troublesome day at the orszag.

Consul Istavan Gorgei, the "Satan Incarnate" as some called him and the "Lion from Debrecen" as others did, all of them with a degree of fear, was looking in rage at Gyula Kun, a known industrialist and opponent of the "war commandism" policies.

And Gyula Kun, a cunning old man, the "Stock Market Fox", stared back. As some petty orator finished complaining on the "demoralizing effect of Joszef Gambzsar's idiocy on the army", using Joszef's absence as the perfect chance for an assault, most of the orszag's eyes shifted towards Istavan Gorgei and Gyula Kun. They knew that an explosion would soon come. It came - Gyula Kun never missed an opportunity to criticize Gorgei.

"Word is given to Gyula Kun." - commented Istvan Gorgei dryly. He knew that there was no point in denying him the word, as the orszag can (and will) support the priveleges of its members - even such as Gyula Kun.

Gyula Kun stood up and walked to the podium and looked at Istavan once more.

"I believe it is time to once more note the atrocious nature of the present "war commandism" policy." - Gyula Kun said. It was hardly a surprise. - "Dear Consul!" - he turned to face Gorgei - "Surely you remember what I said on the previous meeting."

"Yes. You said that "without the freedom of property there can be no freedom". Citizen Kun, I respect you, your opinions and your priveleges. But the orszag as a whole SUPPORTS those policies, and it is elected by the people. If you oppose that, you oppose democracy." - Istvan said, rather wearily. No, he was NOT about to seat through one of those speeches again.

Kun smirked.

"That's a first. And secondly, noone liquidated the freedom of property. The factories touched by the policies are built on the government's lands, as per a special treaty, and thus the government has all rights to TEMPORARILY retake control of them. With compensation."

"Yes, yes. But the FACTORIES themselves belong to factory owners."

"They still control them."

"They are allowed to carry out YOUR commands there, Consul Gorgei. This is setting bad precedent. The government is, according to you, capable of taking control of houses on sold lands - thus lands no longer under the government's possession - and ordering the people there what to do."

"You know that we will not do it unless the orszag sees it fit, which, as far as I understand, it does not."

"This was merely an example..."

"A very bad one." - the Lion, or the Incarnate, or just the Consul, was losing his temper - "A very bad and irrelevant example. Look, do you have ANYTHING new to say? We know your opinions and you know the previous decision of the orszag."

"Very well," - commented Kun, with an odd smile - "I hope you ARE aware of Bucharest."

A silence filled the room, with occasional whispers not beginning until almost a minute after this bold statement. Bucharest? He mentioned that? He said it? HE DARED MENTION IT?!

Only Kun remained quiet and calm, only Kun and Gorgei. Both of them stared at each other with unhidden hatred.

"Having conscripted a large army," - said Kun - "We wasted it, wasted it in idiotic attacks on just one city. Attacks that thus far were unsuccesful."

"Yes, victory is yet to be achieved there..." - replied Istvan, but Kun still had the initiative.

"Victory? Even if it will be a victory, it will be a pyrrhic one! And what about the growing discontence? These casualties, once they leak, will cause a series of riots."

"No riots followed the war-commandism. No riots followed the conscription. No riots..." - a young member of the orszag countered, but was gestured by Istvan to sit down. There was no need for this. He was not granted word, anyway.

"What do you suggest then, Kun? Peace? Betrayal of our allies?"

"No. I suggest a change of war strategy. Essentially, we are supporting Welikoslavia, a victim of foreign agression, yet those agressors are now the ones defending. And we are the ones attacking. We and Welikoslavians. And we are suffering higher casualties - because this is the way modern wars are fought. Now, a small force with good artillery and a competent commander can hold off a much larger force indefinitely. I propose that we cease offensives and dig in, and stop the conscription. We can hold on indefinitely without all those young men having to die, hold on until our enemy, tired, agrees to sign peace."

Some outraged yells came; they were silenced by Gorgei.

"Citizen Kun, this will result in the loss of initiative..."

"Oh! Initiative! We have the initiative now, supposedly, yet the front has not moved throughout the week - whilst in the name of your abstract initiative, thousands die everyday." - and before Gorgei could reply, Kun finished - "I suggest a vote."

The vote was held. Kun's proposal was defeated by a narrow margin.

---

FEBRUARY 3RD 1914.
Constantinople, Byzantine Empire.

Basileus Heraclius often suspected that some of his earlier advisors were right: before they were executed, they kept telling him that Niceus is misleading him, that Niceus is in charge. Yet... Heraclius often pledged to himself to stand up to the tall patriarch, but the aura of the man's charisma always prevented him from doing so.

It was fear, Heraclius realized. Fear of his former tutor, fear of his religious guide, fear of his... ruler.

'A stronger ruler - meaning an open ruler - would have never allowed this to happen to himself...' - thought Heraclius. And then realized that a strong ruler did not allow this to happen to himself, and that strong ruler was Niceus. Long ago, the Byzantine emperors ruled their church like their empire. And now, alas, this was reversed...

And what was happening was hardly good. Despite some good news - in Georgia, in Wallachia - mostly the Byzantine army proved not strong enough to fight on so many fronts. Already, the early wave of patriotism subsided, and it would only make sense to try to bargain for a favorable peace now...

Yes Niceus did not think it was time for peace. He thought the Byzantines could still win. He hoped not even for HRE's assistance, but for divine intervention. And yet, the head of the Orthodox Church (formally at least, as there was a Slavic patriarch who claimed that title as well), perhaps the holiest man alive (in theory) in practice was a ruthless dictator. But this was the worst of all: Heraclius realized it.

Yet he was powerless to act against it. Alas, Byzantium...

Niceus, meanwhile, looked from the balcony at the newly-volunteering and conscripted troops, marching solemnly through the capital. 'God, give me strenght.' - he thought. 'Strenght to me and to my soldiers.'

They would soon go to Serbia.

 

[das]

Comments? Anyone still interested?

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Just continue By A Single Decision!

 

[das]

Technically I do have two chapters ready for this one.

 

[stachnie]

Finally I have managed to decipher what does 'PoD' mean In one of the first posts you have written:

BUT, it IS a Medieval PoD. Borderline Dark Age-Medieval, actually, you know, 10th-11th centuries.

Hmmm... HRE and Byzantium are friends - so maybe something with Otto III? Perhaps his reign was long and fruitful and resulted in a long Roman-Byzantine friendship?


Best regards,

Slawomir Stachniewicz.

 

[das]

No, the current alliance is largely that of neccesity. Oh, and they allied in the BPW.

Scenes from the war.

IC:

Interlude - February 4th 1914-December 25th 1914.

FEBRUARY 27TH 1914.
Mediterranean Sea. Near Balearic Islands, Manche Empire.

Jonathan Ornsby watched on as the Allemane ships neared. This was a bad day for the three-ship Manche Mediterranean Fleet, especially as it was more like a destroyer squad. The little destroyers barely had anything to counter the black leviathans that were the ships of the Holy Roman Empire.

He turned away from the approaching enemy and walked towards and into the command room. The officers were obviously nervous, but were hiding it quite well. They saluted to their "admiral", hoping that he had a solution.

But for now, a "I hope we will get out of this alive" was all he had. But perhaps...

The battle began quickly, and ended quickly, as one Manche destroyer was sunk, but the other two developed as much speed as they could and escaped with minimal damage amidst Allemane shelling. The clouds of artificial fog were a good idea indeed.

---

MARCH 17TH 1914.
Tirane, Byzantine Empire (Hungarian-occupied).

They were supposed to be celebrating, but they weren't. Indeed, at a closer look, there was hardly anything to celebrate.

No, General Karol Shuylas was not celebrating, neither were his officers, nor were his soldiers. The press would celebrate, the "good citizens in the Orszag" would celebrate. But as they entered the ruined city, the near-ghost town, having lost so many good men, they did not celebrate. Carefully they entered the city, fearing that the Byzantines would leave some snipers behind. But they did not, thankfully.

Karol Shuylas sighed with relief. The city was theirs. But will they be able to move far beyond it? And will they even keep it?

---

APRIL 3RD 1914.
Crownsberry, Manche Empire.

April, Spring, time of peace and love, but ofcourse not this year.

Alfred Thomson was a brigadier, but ofcourse it was impossible to notice that by simply looking - ofcourse, knowing the Manche snipers, he now pretended to be a mere private, like the other ones. Better safe then dead, and besides, Thomson could never understand all those officers who didn't want to "lower themselves" to privates.

The khaki-uniformed Manche forces were in the nearby trench, firing at the charging gray-coated Phillippines. The automatic rifles shred the charigng soldiers into pieces, with the help of machine guns ofcourse. Artillery fired from behind the Manche backs and those of their enemies, Alfred Thomson realized that they were doomed.

He died, shredded by numerous bullets, and was later, much later, buried in a "brother grave". A grave without a name. As were the other 16,374 people who died on that day.

---

JUNE 19TH 1914.
Near Bombay, Iberian Republic (Manche-occupied).

The horn was blown, and was heard even in the Sikh camp. It looked, or rather sounded, horribly anachronistic, but this was India after all. Here, it was very hard to say what should be present on a modern battlefield and what should not be.

Antuan Mendoza sipped some sherbet. He already got used to it. The tent covered him from the searing sun, but it was still very, very warm here. Nonetheless, the curiosity got the better of him. He put on his desert hat and walked to the "outer headquarters" of Hajin Singh, ruler of Gujarat. There, Hajin and his advisors, and generals, and an Allemane journalist, were studying the situation. Basically, there was a large tent, and outside of it, an observation post. The heat was taking its toll on the Sikhs as well. Some of them greeted him wearily, others were arguing with their ruler loudly about their situation. The generals wanted to order a retreat to regroup, but Singh would not have it. Antuan climbed the lattern to the post's top, and looked through the observation tube at the battle.

There was much carnage. Death, explosions, suffering - it all was there. White-turbaned Sikhs were shouting and firing their rifles, often but not always those old, obsolete ones, as they advanced , and Gurkhas charged yelling ferociously and those of them who reached the Manche trenches cut the Manche soldiers into pieces in their fury, with their horrible curved daggers.

Still, it look as if the Manche forces would hold their ground... but just as Mendoza thought that, the panic in the enemy ranks began. It was magnified as the new Sikh artillery began to speak - it was firing from the east, while the main offensive was from the north.

The Manche forces were fleeing in panic, they were routed utterly. Though Mendoza was glad to see it happen to the Manches, he shuddered at the thought of what tigers those Indians were.

The Tiger was unleashed.

---

JULY 11TH 1914.
North of New Biscay, Manche Empire.

Theodore Chatreux was sincerely surprised that the Philippine forces were as daring as this. They were actually trying to cross the Mississippi! Ofcourse, the artillery and the machine guns made short work of the first wave. Some suspected these were decoys, but there was hardly any sense in that. Besides, he was sure that the second wave was for real.

He handed the next bullet-belt to John Irnsby. Irnsby prepared to give another hailstorm. The transport boats got closer, artillery thundered - mostly at the enemy artillery positions, but some at the river - and the machine guns too fired, wiping out the second wave.

Simultaneously, the Philippine artillery opened fire on the Manche positions. Chatreux cursed; he feared he would become deaf very soon now. But that soon ceased to be his concern.

One of the shells exploded not too far from him. Ofcourse, most of the shrapnel was consumed by sandbags, but something strange emerged from the shells. The yellow gas rose, as Chatreux choked, the world suddenly became black...

And on the coast, the third, and the first real, wave of the riverine crossing troops hit the beach unopposed. They were wearing odd masks.

---

AUGUST 12TH 1914.
Somewhere in the Adriatic Sea.

Ioannos Rammos quickly wrote down: "A-Class Destroyer sighted south-south-west." The captain walked away from the periscope while a petty officer retracted it. So far, so good...

"Commence emergence." - Ioannos wrote down the captain's words - "Prepare to fire."

He seemed rather out of place with his pen and a sheet of paper inside one of the wonders of modern technology - the Depthship. Still, Ioannos felt that he was doing his duty here. Duty? What use was a piece of paper with the captain's words written down on it? It was protocol. Protocol is a vital part of disciplinne. And he who is vital to protocol was vital to disciplinne. And disciplinne was vital to success...

"Ready to fire." - reported a torpedo officer who walked into the control room and then stepped back out, saluting.

"Emergence completed." - said the seaman in front of the captain, the one who was looking at the depth gauge.

"Fire." - said the captain.

"Will do!" - saluted the torpedo officer, a rather young man, and walked away.

Soon after, the torpedo hit the Hungarian destroyer Szelas and sunk it.

Operation Hector was well-underway, as Byzantine Depthships attacked Hungarian Adriatic Fleet in the support of the Allemanes.

---

SEPTEMBER 3RD 1914.
North of Kiel Canal, Goteborg Union.

Olaf Svensson didn't like to smoke. Not at all. But an addiction was an addiction... So he walked away from the battery, like the other artillerymen, and took out the cigar. The tobacco was quite rotten now, in fact everything was such in war time.

'What a stupid war...' - he thought - 'what is the point of it all?'

Suddenly, his musings were interrupted by the yells of an adjutant. He - and the other ones - rushed to their respective weapons. An Allemane force appeared on that side of the canal (under the cover of the smoke, they came much closer then usually). By now, he knew the region well enough to easily, without a "refference map", regulate the mighty weapon. Thorvard loaded the shell into the howitzer, panting, and, as the camouflaged Allemane infantry crawled closer. Then he fired, along with the others. But some of the Allemanes suddenly sat up and too kout some sort of thin tubes based on two - also thin - supports. They came closer... deployed those things into the ground while shells killed some but far from all of them... and fired.

They fired. Small bombs - like some of the new grenades - flew over the canal (there wasn't too much of a distance left, truth be said), and hit the other coast. There was no time to understand this, but the Scandinavians fired back. The Allemanes charged, moved closer, fired again...

Olaf did not at all expect these bombs to fly that far. Yet they did. They, ofcourse, barely had any shrapnel, but they exploded, as he learned later, killing nine people and wounding twelve, and seriously damaging two howitzers. The darn Allemanes...

But it was not enough, ofcourse. Denmark remained uninvaded...

---

OCTOBER 27TH 1914.
South of Melsredy, Manche Empire.

Eduard Roche used to believe in luck. Which was why he did not put on a private's uniform in 1914, believing that his officer's uniform brought him luck. A sniper hit him. In a way, that WAS huge luck - no, not only the fact that he survived and was even likely to avoid amputation, well, that also, but more like escaping the nightmare of July. And those months that came immediately after, during which yet again the many problems of Manche buerocracy were revealed. The gas masks were completely figured out by late August, Eduard heard, but only now, in October, did they get in sufficient supply to all troops on this front. And by then, they were definitely on the retreat.

He sighed. Half of East Philippia was already lost to the Philippian forces. Will they hold the other half? But, either way, he was alive and soon was likely to get a leave. Or was he? He did not like to think about it, but it was unlikely they would let a whole soldier go home now. They had an Imperial Colony to hold. The complete loss of that colony... would result in something horrible. Eduard remembered from before the war reading the famed demosist work of Markos Petrados, "The People's Revolution". Revolution. There were many things wrong in the Empire, but he also remembered what he read in the history books about the Philippine Revolution. And the Iberian one. And the Hungarian. Revolution punishes all, innocent and faulty, right and wrong. And all it would take is a major defeat in the current war. And the Empire was already suffering from many such defeats now...

He shook aside that thought. But it still remained.

The Manche soldiers, dirty, ill and tired, were retreating to Melsredy, praying that the Philippine cavalry won't attack them now. The wounded were carried after them, and only few volunteered to help defend them.

The others just wanted to save themselves.

---

NOVEMBER 8TH 1914.
Hesperia [OTL Bermuda], Manche Empire.

For the eight day, the horrible sounds of the ships not too far away firing at each disturbed the tiny population of the small island. For the eight day, the Manche fleet left its safe dockyard to fight the stubborn Allemane-Flemish fleet which was determined to rule the Atlantic. But the Manche were determined to do the same. The ships, often with many non-fatal holes and always with "scars", clashed again and again in a battle of steel and will. Allemane steel; Manche steel. Allemane will; Manche will.

There was no giving up. Many ships were resting beneath the waves by now. They needed to be avnged. The sailors could only sleep for maximum four hours a day, and even that not often. They had to fight, day and night.

The little boy listened and watched on as the two fleets clashed. The boy's name was Montgomery Mortimer, but now was far from his time of glory and infamy. Incidentally, the sailors were fighting for his future fate, though they did not know it. And later, those of them who lived that long - which was not many - would, not knowing that the fate of this boy was determined by them, become dependant on him, for their fates would be in his hands.

But not yet. For now, the two fleets fought, fought like devils.

---

DECEMBER 2ND 1914.
Stettin, Holy Roman Empire (Welikoslavian-occupied).

Leopold Kreimer knew these streets well. These inner streets of the "New City", near the docks. Welikoslavic troops would not stop him, ofcourse, if he went by the main street, they did not want a fully-blown guerrila movement against them, but secretivity was important. Perhaps they suspected something. Kreimer did not want them to see him, not yet.

Nor did he want them to see his "friends", whom he met just a few meters from the docks. Nor did he want them to see the bribed officer, who gave them the uniforms and the word portraits of some of the sailors yesterday. Nor the actor, a member of the Resistance, who assisted them in griming themselves according to the aforementioned portraits.

Nor that officer again, who let them aboard. Kreimer always wondered why could any human being become so weak because of a drug dependancy. So weak and so... stupid. The bribed officer was startled when he was knocked out and hidden in the slums by Welder and Grubern. Meanwhile, the three remaining Resistors pretended to be sailors of the battleship Boleslaw Belawa. They reached the first turret. Busch was to be the martyr of the Resistance. As in a firefigt, the guards were killed, he walked in, lit the fuse, and started the fire. By then, Kreimer and Berstein were on the way out of the ship...

Alas, they did not make it. The bribed officer's absence was noticed, and Welikoslavian guards barred exit. Before Kreimer could use his wit or his aim, depending on circumstances, the ship blew up.

It would be avenged three days later, in a violent crackdown on the Resistance activity in the conspirative apartment on Habsburg Street 7.

 

[Zorn]

Nicely written, I like it a lot.
Btw, how badly did Byzanz lose the second war?