I very much liked the discussion about the different approaches to aeroplane development, the reasons for it, and the consequences
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The great war ends as quickly and surprisingly as it started. I guess the total collapse of the Chinese army in Vietnam was too great of a blow. The great titan clash of battleships is as inconclusive as it was in the OTL. Some things do not change.
We've seen the war in air and sea -- now all that remains is the ground.
I have to say that the aerophile in me is rather pleased at the level of detail that the air war got
I have to say that the aerophile in me is rather pleased at the level of detail that the air war got
I must say I hope Germans did not lose completely.. I am betting for a status quo pre bellum
A Renault NC31 of the French Third Army.
Eighty Nine - The Great War in the West
Erich Ludendorff, though happy to throw his navy at the French was determined to defeat the Russians on land, rightly seeing them as the weaker enemy. With the Chinese striking at Siberia and the Czechoslovakians more than an adequate counterweight against the Russophile Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria under their Brazilian monarch Russia looked distinctly vulnerable. If the Germans could defeat Russia before the beginning of 1934 - and Ludendorff believed they could - then the full weight of the German and Czechoslovak armies could be turned back to the west, ready to invade France in the Spring. If Russia collapsed swiftly then Italy would almost certainly enter the war on the Sino-German side. Mussolini had never ceased dreaming of Savoy and the wide French domain in North Africa was also a tempting prize.
To win the Germans rested on two factors: a portion of the standing army left in the west and the Red Dutch. Not sufficient to launch a serious offensive in their own right but enough to create a Rhine wall for the unprepared French to batter themselves on. Ludendorff knew that France had been caught off guard by the conflict, her forces thinly stretched. Therefore - hopefully! - France needed time to build up her Army on the Rhine. It was a sound strategy, and had it been applied properly might well have led to triumph for Berlin and Beijing.
Unfortunately for Ludendorff and very fortunately for France the Dutch had plans of their own. The Socialist Republic of the Netherlands was a ramshackle state that had nearly collapsed to a liberal democratic revolution in 1930. To the humiliation of the communists German military aid had been needed to beat down the rebels, establishing just how firmly the nation was in the German orbit. The sight of Prussians in pickelhaubes marching on the Damrak had profoundly scarred the Red Dutch leaders. Willem van Ravesteyn, the General Secretary and President of the Netherlands was painfully aware of how fragile a country he ruled. The seemingly unlikely alliance between the Netherlands and Germany had originally been based on their shared nature as pariah states as much on economic necessity. However the Germany of 1933 was infinitely stronger than the embittered rump state crushed between France and Russia. The Dutch were not even the favourite partners of Berlin in Europe now, that doubtful honour going to the Czechoslovakians. Unless the Dutch gained substantially from the war a future as little more than a German satellite looked assured.
Exactly what the Dutch government aimed to gain from the war is hard to say. Germany explictly wanted a return of Ostpreußen and perhaps Rheinland. China wished to assert her hegemony in Indochina and gain elsewhere at the expense of Russia. The Dutch had no territorial ambitions in Europe - even Luxembourg would likely go to Berlin in the result of a victory. Nor could they have hoped for many overseas colonies, save perhaps French Guiana. The Dutch East Indies, permanently unsettled since the revolution were a source of dispute inside the government. Perhaps the simplest answer is 'legitimacy'. The Dutch regime, especially after the events of 1930 was strongly influenced by Blanquist
philosophy which emphasised a militaristic spirit. A successful war could unite even the fraying strands of popular legitimacy. Possibly.
The Dutch offensive into Rheinland decided the course of the war. Had General Jan van Walbeeck, the Dutch commander in chief, kept to the positions of the Ludendorff Plan he would have remained on the border. Instead he crossed over into France in the first week of May, his army swiftly overrunning Cleves and reaching the outskirts of Aix-la-Chapelle by 14 May. Here he was stopped in his tracks by a desperate French counteroffensive under Général d'armée Aimable Murat - a descendant of Napoleon's famed Marshal. General Murat's forces consisted mostly of elements of the French First and Third Armies, above all the armoured brigades supported by almost the entire front line strength of the Armée de l'Air. General Murat, an implacable commander brilliantly used his superior maneuverability to cut off and encircle the Dutch at Aix-la-Chapelle. With total French command of the skies giving him eyes everywhere Murat pulled off one of the great victories of the war.
The Battle of Aix-la-Chapelle, 14-17 May 1933 [1].
The collapse of the Dutch at Aix-la-Chapelle saved Rheinland, but it also drove the French to gamble on keeping the initiative. The five divisions of the French Seventh Army guarding the Italian border were rushed north to support what was swiftly turning into a French offensive. It was a terrible risk. If Mussolini decided to throw his lot in with the Germans only the threat of the French dreadnoughts in Toulon bombarding the long Italian coast could have deterred him (and as we have seen the French would prove willing to diminish even that presence in extremis). The gamble of Murat and Louis Marin was that France, marshaling her full might could win the war in the West faster than Germany could win it in the East and the Italian dictator would only back a winner.
Still in May the situation remained uncertain. The French, initially very thinly spread along the Rhine faced a German probing attack at Colmar at the start of the month. Unwisely the Germans then fed more men and material into the Battle of Colmar to divert French attention from the Dutch invasion. The result was another avoidable defeat that left part of the German line open to a French counteroffensive. The French reserves from Savoy, originally earmarked for Murat at Aix-la-Chapelle had been shifted to Colmar at the last moment. The gamble had paid off, even if not quite in the way the French had expected. Mussolini decided to wait.
In the North Murat (now a Marshal of France) crushed van Walbeeck's already shattered forces at Limburg on 22 May. On 3 June he defeated another Dutch force at Cleves, liberating the town and capturing his second Dutch general (Daniël Verspijck.) By now the Dutch Army was in total disarray. Tens of thousands of soldiers had been lost, the vast majority taken prisoner. French tanks where poised along the pre-war border, ready to drive deep into the Netherlands.
For Ludendorff the Dutch disaster, compounded by the ill-advised attack on Colmar, directly threatened the 'good war' Germany was having on the Russian front. Königsberg was conquered (or liberated depending on one's point of view) the day before the French retook Cleves, Warsaw was in imminent danger of falling and the Czechoslovakians had all but knocked Galicia and Lodomeria out of the war. A French offensive had always been considered a possibility but the Rhine Wall, the Dutch Army and the Italian uncertainty had defused that threat. Increasingly the German leader was forced to rely on the Chinese for good news. If Siberia fell quickly enough that shock taken with the loss of Poland and Ostpreußen could force Russia out of the war by November.
Murat spent June and early July reorganising the French forces in Rheinland and Alsace-Lorraine and adjusting to the lessons that had been learnt. Though they had won dramatic victories the French had suffered losses that were only now being replaced by reserves. The Armée de l'Air had lost over three hundred aircraft between April and the start of July, most to their German opponents (the Dutch Airforce had to all intents and purposes ceased to exist.) The French tanks were outgunned by the monstorous German 'Grosstraktor' equivalent, though Murat's machines were more reliable, better armoured and available in larger numbers. Murat, certain he had gained knowledge of the enemy, was all for an immediate offensive into Germany proper. Here he clashed with Marin. The prime minister felt that a quick strike into the Netherlands could knock the Dutch out of the war in six or seven weeks. Murat agreed with the conclusion but not the desirability of such a move, as expressed in a letter written soon after the Battle of Cleves:
'M. Marin we have not forced the Dutch from the war but we have defeated them... seven weeks will see our soldiers in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague. Where will they see Ludendorff?'
Murat had his way. While a small force would continue to apply pressure to the Dutch, the great bulk of the French Army would invade Germany proper.
The French offensive, September 1933.
In the first week of July the French First, Second, Third, Fifth and Seventh Armies crossed the pre-war border [2]. At Kreuznach Murat defeated a small German Army while the same evening another scion of a famous family did likewise at Kaiserslautern. Général de corps d'armée Hubert Duchêne, youngest son of the late president ended any German hopes of regaining the initiative in the West. More French victories followed at Tübingen (5 September), Stuttgart (25 September), Giessen (26 September) and Minden (3 October.)
The German disadvantage was not so much lack of numbers, though that was increasingly slanted towards the French, as of equipment. Per the Ludendorff Plan most of Germany's aeroplanes, heavy artillery and tanks were in Russia. Murat's offensive, especially after the twin victories of Kreuznach and Kaiserslautern had seen irreplaceable levels of materiel fall into French hands. The reinforcements pulled in to shore up the front line found themselves as infantry operating with little support heavier than trench mortars. With such uneven odds even the justly famous German frontier fortifications could not hold the French for long.
In Berlin Ludendorff was coming under severe pressure to begin pulling back soldiers from the Russian front. The Kaiser, the press, even some formally loyal voices in the Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei had begun to waver with the seemingly unstoppable French drive into Germany. On the afternoon of 26 September (the day after the German Army failed to retake Stuttgart) General Kurt von Schleicher, the German Minister for War met with his friend Franz von Papen, the Secretary of State in the glamourous Deutscher Herrenklub (German Gentlemen's Club). Over coffee and cigarettes von Papen revealed that he had been contacted by members of the Imperial Family and that the Kaiser and the Crown Prince had lost faith in Ludendorff. Von Schleicher revealed he had likewise been approached by members of the officer corps with similar concerns. The groundwork for the coup had been lain, though the blow did not come at once.
The Prince Su, the Chinese ambassador in Berlin was candid about Chinese successes against the Russians, informing Ludendorff that the Qing banner now flew over Vladivostock. He was less candid about developments in Indochina. Not that it mattered; the Germans, mistrustful of their allies were secretly reading Chinese diplomatic codes. Ludendorff knew full well how the war was slipping away in Indochina. Increasingly demoralised and exhausted Ludendorff's nerves began to break down. On 20 October he was forced to admit in the Reichstag that China probably could not 'complete her defeat of the French this year.'
On 21 October the Kaiser summoned Ludendorff to the huge Baroque splendour of the Berliner Stadtschloss. It was a sign of how weakened Ludendorff had become that he accepted the summons from his nominal monarch, a man he was more accustomed to treating a junior officer. There he was 'ambushed' as he termed it later by not only the Kaiser but several members of his Cabinet including von Papen, von Schleicher and the commander in chief of the Imperial Navy Admiral Lukas Krohn. The Kaiser loudly praised the Field Marshal, appointed him a Prince of the German Empire, then informed him that for health reasons Ludendorff should step aside for the duration of the war. It was the end and everyone knew it.
To observers in Paris the fall of Ludendorff changed all perceptions of the war. The German leader had been seen as a domineering ogre for so long that it was incredible to see him vanish in the twinkling of an eye. Nevertheless Marin, suspecting the Germans were not keen on continuing fighting regardless of who led them, was willing to take a gamble. He alerted the British, the Americans and (with deep reluctance) the Italians that France and Russia were willing to talk with Germany and China. Initially the response was disappointing. It was clear that France was winning in Western Europe, but Germany was dominant in the Russian field and what of China? In response Marin baldly proclaimed the French victory at the Battle of Thanh Hoa, technically before the fighting had even finished (but after it was clear who would win.) It was enough to sway wavering opinion in London, Washington D.C and Rome and those governments began to pressure Berlin and Beijing to accept 'reasonable' French proposals.
On 27 October with Germany still coming to terms with her new leadership and the Chinese still reeling from their defeat in Indochina the French government sent an official peace note to Berlin and Beijing, via the British. The offer demanded war reparations and the immediate evacuation of occupied territory, but explicitly recognised the pre-war borders of Germany, China and Czechoslovakia. The stronger demands of Russia were dropped.
They accepted and on 28 October an Armistice was declared.
The French peace note of October 1933.
[1] Naturally the French are not going to call this the 'Battle of Aachen'.
[2] Technically the situation was a bit more fluid with German troops across my border and mine across theirs but broadly speaking this is when my true offensive began.
stnylan: thanks, I had fun writing it and the French of our time line did embrace multi seat/multi roll planes.
Bored Student1414: Yes. As I've said I was pretty unhappy with ending the war so quickly but given it started so late the other alternative was to let it run past the end of the game. Undoubtedly there will be a rematch in a decade or so.
Specialist290: Thanks! I wanted to give the aeroplanes and aviators their moment in the sun!
guillec87: Mostly right!
Bored Student1414: Yes. As I've said I was pretty unhappy with ending the war so quickly but given it started so late the other alternative was to let it run past the end of the game. Undoubtedly there will be a rematch in a decade or so.
Specialist290: Thanks! I wanted to give the aeroplanes and aviators their moment in the sun!
guillec87: Mostly right!
That was a rather quick war, but the defeat will see Germany knocked down a peg once more. But to me the question becomes, what will the French do with the Netherlands? Please return Wilhelmina
A much quicker war than I was expecting, but would very nicely setup any HoI4-era war.
Once more Germany and its allies are humbled, and Ludendorff is given the old "kicked upstairs" treatment for blundering away the advantage -- even if his only sin was having unreliable allies, that's certainly enough to shake many people's faith in a man's judgment.
France looks to be the dominant Power on the Continent once again -- if not in terms of territorial domination, then certainly in prestige and reach. Of course, being placed on such a high pedestal may tempt others to try to knock them down, and it is such a long way to the bottom...
France looks to be the dominant Power on the Continent once again -- if not in terms of territorial domination, then certainly in prestige and reach. Of course, being placed on such a high pedestal may tempt others to try to knock them down, and it is such a long way to the bottom...
The people in the streets of Paris celebrate the end of the war and the government can boast a clear cut military victory.
However, the German nation stays unbroken. It's government may be in temporary turmoil but their drive to get back their territory and the pride of their army remains. The mythos of surrender due to the weakness of their allies could push forward a powerful demagogue, capable to reframing the war as a betrayal, talking only about the triumph in the East and discarding the defeat in the west as due to the Red Dutch .
France's position is no stronger than it was before the conflict. Two ennemies are still at the gate, Russia is a weak Allie and democracy and Francophilia do not appear any more popular across the Rhine or the Alps.
What will come next may be bloody...
We can no longer let revolutionaries and warmongers dictate the life of central Europe, messieurs les députés de l'Assemblée Nationale. If peace is to prevail in the World, France need to assert it's hegemony in Europe !
However, the German nation stays unbroken. It's government may be in temporary turmoil but their drive to get back their territory and the pride of their army remains. The mythos of surrender due to the weakness of their allies could push forward a powerful demagogue, capable to reframing the war as a betrayal, talking only about the triumph in the East and discarding the defeat in the west as due to the Red Dutch .
France's position is no stronger than it was before the conflict. Two ennemies are still at the gate, Russia is a weak Allie and democracy and Francophilia do not appear any more popular across the Rhine or the Alps.
What will come next may be bloody...
We can no longer let revolutionaries and warmongers dictate the life of central Europe, messieurs les députés de l'Assemblée Nationale. If peace is to prevail in the World, France need to assert it's hegemony in Europe !
I have caught up with the latest chapters during the Easter, and they have certainly been eventful! From elections at home to war across the world, in the colonies and Europe, the times are changing.
Erich Ludendorff who believed in war and military dictatorship being the natural state of affairs certainly managed to entangle Germany in a disastrous conflict, which ultimately turned the military and coups against him. The two fronts here ended up proving fatal to Germany, and the Dutch certainly couldn't alleviate that disadvantage. While France only enforced a capitulation, I see the autocrats in Berlin difficultly holding on to power after having lost their raison d'être, and given the size of the German working class a revolution doesn't seem too far-fetched. Paradoxically the opposite will be true in the Red Netherlands, who similarly seems to completely disregard the interests of those that conceived the revolutionary state. Mussolini on the other hand was wise to stay out of the war in this timeline, although it does mean the Italian population will continue to be ruled by fascists in the foreseeable future.
The shorter WW2 of this timeline means less died (even though the carnage in Indochina will have marked the minds of the contemporaries) but also ultimately that the peace is less revolutionary, at least for now. That said, I guess we will have to see in the three years that remain how things unfold. I personally don't really see any third world war happening in the short time that is left though, since so far there is no real opportunity of former allies turning against each other, and the ennemies in Europe have been thoroughly defeated, meaning a revanchist threat seems unlikely on that front. Russia and the Qing proved to both be paper tigers though, so there might be internal change for those regimes, with the United Kingdom and United States remaining isolationist jokers.
With regards to domestic consequences, what will happen seems uncertain, since the war didn't reach far into mainland France. Historically the post-war period meant the build-up welfare state, but it happening earlier in this timeline seems like a fairly unlikely turn of events, given the lack of a strong left both internally and externally to put pressure on the existing status quo. Trade unions could play a crucial role there, depending on their involvement. At the same time, decolonisation has already begun, and even though the colonial lobby might wish to have a last go at saving the empire by reconquering French India, I think all realistic outcomes will imply either the thorough reform or progressive disengagement, unless the bloody path is chosen.
This ended up as a slightly (too) long comment with a lot of speculation, perhaps in trying to compensate for my absence when the latest updates were published. On a final note, your fine portrayal of both the technical progress and the military side of war means the narrative continues to be excellent, and I look forward to reading the remaining chapters!
Erich Ludendorff who believed in war and military dictatorship being the natural state of affairs certainly managed to entangle Germany in a disastrous conflict, which ultimately turned the military and coups against him. The two fronts here ended up proving fatal to Germany, and the Dutch certainly couldn't alleviate that disadvantage. While France only enforced a capitulation, I see the autocrats in Berlin difficultly holding on to power after having lost their raison d'être, and given the size of the German working class a revolution doesn't seem too far-fetched. Paradoxically the opposite will be true in the Red Netherlands, who similarly seems to completely disregard the interests of those that conceived the revolutionary state. Mussolini on the other hand was wise to stay out of the war in this timeline, although it does mean the Italian population will continue to be ruled by fascists in the foreseeable future.
The shorter WW2 of this timeline means less died (even though the carnage in Indochina will have marked the minds of the contemporaries) but also ultimately that the peace is less revolutionary, at least for now. That said, I guess we will have to see in the three years that remain how things unfold. I personally don't really see any third world war happening in the short time that is left though, since so far there is no real opportunity of former allies turning against each other, and the ennemies in Europe have been thoroughly defeated, meaning a revanchist threat seems unlikely on that front. Russia and the Qing proved to both be paper tigers though, so there might be internal change for those regimes, with the United Kingdom and United States remaining isolationist jokers.
With regards to domestic consequences, what will happen seems uncertain, since the war didn't reach far into mainland France. Historically the post-war period meant the build-up welfare state, but it happening earlier in this timeline seems like a fairly unlikely turn of events, given the lack of a strong left both internally and externally to put pressure on the existing status quo. Trade unions could play a crucial role there, depending on their involvement. At the same time, decolonisation has already begun, and even though the colonial lobby might wish to have a last go at saving the empire by reconquering French India, I think all realistic outcomes will imply either the thorough reform or progressive disengagement, unless the bloody path is chosen.
This ended up as a slightly (too) long comment with a lot of speculation, perhaps in trying to compensate for my absence when the latest updates were published.
On a final note, your fine portrayal of both the technical progress and the military side of war means the narrative continues to be excellent, and I look forward to reading the remaining chapters!
Germany certainly overplayed their hand there, a vicious if fairly short war. Ironically ITTL the horrors of modern war will not throw up images of endless slaughter in the trenches but brief bloody engagements dominated by tanks and aeroplanes.
I know I bang on about the Qing but depending on how the peace treaty goes I dare say history is on their side. They rolled through Siberia and were defeated by the terrain in Indochina. Their tech disadvantage will lessen as time goes on and given what's happened in India and Egypt they may very soon have a weak Annam state facing them in the south rather than the French
I know I bang on about the Qing but depending on how the peace treaty goes I dare say history is on their side. They rolled through Siberia and were defeated by the terrain in Indochina. Their tech disadvantage will lessen as time goes on and given what's happened in India and Egypt they may very soon have a weak Annam state facing them in the south rather than the French
Europe, early 1934 (after the armistice but prior to the Czechoslovakian-Hungarian War).
Part Ninety - Peace and war in Europe, war and peace in India
The peace treaties that marked the end of the war of 1933 were very different beasts from those that had seen off the last significant war in Europe. From the beginning all sides agreed that there should be no transfer of territory. Anything else would have meant continued fighting, but such an agreement suited a France that was struggling to hold on to her existing territory both at home and abroad. Had it only been possible there were some in Paris who might have been tempted to hand over the perpetual headache that was Rheinland, but no French government could have survived such a policy even in the name of Franco-German friendship. Besides which, Russia had no intention of handing over Ostpreußen and without that there could be no permanent peace. Instead the negotiations that droned on in Paris throughout the Spring of 1934 would focus on reparations and limits to the size of the armies and fleets of Germany, China, Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands.
The British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald would act as an 'honest broker' during the negotiations (representatives from the United States, Italy and Japan would also be present but in more of an observer category than the British.) Though there was some grumbling at the British for intervening, there was also, secretly, much relief among the political leaders that they had. The British were no one's allies and if they were currently friendly towards France this was balanced by their traditional rivalry with Russia. Most of the wartime governments wanted the war conclusively ended as swiftly as possible. Russia especially, though nominally on the victorious side had had a bad war and the government in St. Petersburg was anxious to return to business as usual having so woefully misjudged the Germans and their allies. The original Russian demands in their ultimatum, terms which would have humiliated any country let alone a Great Power were quietly shelved in favour of partial disarmament and financial reparations.
The most delicate question of all was what to do with the Netherlands. In that unhappy country the war had left the state on the verge of total collapse. The Dutch Army had all but disintegrated and even the French had limited men in the country, given their commitments to the German invasion. The Berlin government under General von Schleicher was not prepared to see the Netherlands become a French client state - or a British protectorate for that matter. Therefore the French and Russians (and British) swallowed their objections and allowed the Germans to 'restore order' in Amsterdam. The Netherlands was also exempted from surrendering any warships or aircraft, largely because she had so little of either left.
The war had undermined the economy of the Qing Empire, with China faced with total blockade by the French and the serving of her overland trade with Russia. The Chinese merchant marine, scarcely recovered from the war with Japan, had either lain rotting at anchor in Shanghai and a dozen other ports or fallen prey to French cruiser warfare on the high seas. With the disaster of Indochina having given hope to malcontents across the empire the Beijing government was only too eager to accept even marginal peace. The sheer speed at which China agreed to the French suggestions angered Chancellor von Schleicher, who frankly had more to lose and a far more delicate task selling the peace to his public. The relationship between Berlin and Beijing had owed much to the foresight and ruthlessness of Ludendorff. With his absence and replacement by men who neither understood nor appreciated China, cracks began to appear.
The Treaty of Paris would be signed on 5 February 1934. President John Blaine of the United States of America was among the many to publicly proclaim an era of peace, but in truth all of the involved powers save Russia would be involved in wars within the year. Hungary, seeing a weakened Czechoslovakia, declared war on Prague in July 1934, hungrily hoping to cleave off and devour Slovakia. The Czechoslovakians appealed to both the Netherlands and Germany for aid while the Hungarians approached the Chinese, their own patrons in the difficult period where Hungary was finding her feet. Soon Berlin and Beijing, so recently allies would be enemies, though given the lack of any common borders or capacity to challenge each other the shooting and dying would be in Mitteleuropa. France and Russia, neutral this time, could only watch with confusion and a flicker of dark satisfaction as the Sino-German alliance collapsed.
War breaks out in Europe once again...
Marshal Aimable Murat, rightly lionized for his leadership in the war had been privately opposed to the Treaty of Paris. The aristocratic commander, at fifty uncommonly young to have reached his rank, felt that he had been on the verge of breaking Germany. Instead - Murat and many in the officer corps felt - the peace would upset Germany and China without significantly weakening them, while the Netherlands which had been hollowed out was now more of a German satrapy than ever. Still he kept his frustrations private, leaving such matters to the politicians. To the public Murat was the face of French triumph, the victory of Gallic élan of soulless Prussian militarism. Murat regarded his own popularity with some bemusement. The cousin of a prince, well to do, firmly Royalist in politics and a career Army officer he had lived his life someone at odds with 'modern' French society. Newsreels of Murat receiving the Légion d'honneur at the hands of the President display a tall, impeccably uniformed soldier in obvious discomfort in front of the movie camera. The contrast with splendidly self promoting Henri Laurent, France's other great war hero was striking. M. Laurent's saturnine face would grace the covers of countless magazines throughout the Thirties and Forties and after departing the Armée de l'Air he would enjoy a successful career promoting various civilian airlines.
For Murat leaving the military was unthinkable. He did not become Minister for War, as many expected, partly because his personal politics did not chime with the government for all his warm relationship with Marin. Instead Marin took the Ministry himself while retaining the prime ministership while Murat remained as généralissime or commander in chief of the Army [1]. As far as Murat felt - and much or most of France - peace with Germany and China meant war elsewhere. French India had to be recovered.
Marshal Aimable Murat.
The debacle of the Karnatak revolt and the surrender of Bouët-Willaumez had been neither forgiven nor forgotten by the French people. Even those inclined to granting autonomy to the seemingly endless troublespots in the colonial empire were affronted by the self proclaimed republic of 'Tamil Nadu'. Unfortunately for the French their inability to intervene in India thanks to the Great War had allowed the brigand state to win a degree of international recognition. Ramayyan Dalawa, a clever and persuasive leader had made a point of declaring he had no quarrel with France, unless France wished to quarrel with him. In January 1934 he even released the more than nine thousand French soldiers taken prisoner during the revolution, winning some admiration in the foreign press. The trouble was that in many was M. Dalawa was exactly the sort of man the French government professedly wished to work with; an articulate and European educated politician. Had the revolution not happened he might have received a very different reception in Paris. However the revolution had happened, and as much as it was bad luck and the ebb and flow of world events that prevented France responding the feeling in France very high in early 1934.
The expedition against Tamil Nadu, the brainchild of Murat, consisted of two divisions (approximately twenty four thousand men) under a pair of famous names. Général de division Nicholas Duchêne was the nephew of the late president while Général de division Charles Jaurès was a more distant scion of the political family. Both men had served in Africa during the Great War and most of the soldiers in their command where Africans or French colons resident in French East Africa. In March 1934 the soldiers had sailed from Dar es Salaam across the Indian Ocean. Accompanying them were several cruisers of the French fleet out of Saigon, still in their gleaming white peace time paint - there had been no time or opportunity to repaint them during the Great War. At dawn on 27 April 1934 the French force bombarded Madras with naval gunnery and sorties by seaplane. A few hours later that morning the French Army soldiers approached the shore, rifles at the ready.
The advantage the French had was that they knew the fortifications of Madras and Pondicherry - they had built them. They also had the edge in material. The French pilots had a nasty shock when they found themselves in swirling dogfights with Indian aircraft - a few old Breguet XIX's of Bouët-Willaumez's garrison that had been captured and repurposed. The rebel air force was too small though, and after the first few days the French had won control of the skies. The same story could be said of other weapons that had fallen into rebel hands. Though Dalawa had a few modern light artillery pieces most of Bouët-Willaumez's guns had been deliberately destroyed by the desperate French before the surrender. There was little enough ammunition left. When Seshayya Dawala - the president's brother and perhaps the best rebel general - made his stand at Madras he was forced to rely on the bayonet. It did not deliver the day.
Early French concerns that the Dalawa regime might mobilise the vast army of civilians against the invader proved unfounded. Once Seshayya Dawala surrendered on 30 April the French entered Madras proper and found it eerily quiet. The great mobs of 1933 had melted away and after the initial battle at Madras the French found themselves marching past crowds of locals. It was as if the revolution had burnt itself out. General Duchêne for one did not see this as any open armed celebration of the French return - 'no threw rose petals at our feet' he noted in his memoirs many years later. Instead the mood was one of fatalism, a cold anger not a hot one. The only people visibly relieved at the 'liberation' were Europeans, predominately French in Pondicherry and English and Scottish elsewhere. There had, perhaps surprisingly been no pogroms against Europeans by the Dalawa regime, either out of genuine humanitarian reasons or for fear that the British in Sri Lanka would have intervened while the French could not.
The Indian campaign was wrapped up swiftly and with remarkably few casualties considering [2]. The defence of Madras at the beginning of the conflict was the only significant fighting in the field, though there was a persistent partisan presence in the countryside throughout the second half of the year. With the fall of Madras and then Pondicherry the enemy were deprived of most of their fuel and ammunition and were reduced to spiking railway tracks and severing telephone cables. The greatest problem for the French was the enemy crossing the border into Mysore beyond the reach of French vengeance. The Maharaja of Mysore was technically a client of the British but in practice was an independent and ambitious ruler with some thoughts of his own on the future of India.
By 13 February 1935 the tricolour flew over every major city and the government of Tamil Nadu sued for peace. Now the hard part began. What to do with the rebels? The government was not blind to the sense of public anger in France. Many journals, particularly but not solely on the furthest Right cried out for Dalawa and his fellows to be executed like common criminals. On the other hand more... imaginative or perceptive minds in France were beginning to see Dalawa less as an individual radical than as a symptom of a wider problem. The vast French colonial empire was in desperate trouble. In under a decade the French had seen two major revolts, and a third would take place in Africa before the end of the year [3].
France seemed cursed with misfortune when it came to her colonies, but all of the other Great Powers had been facing similar difficulties over the 1920s and 30s. The United States faced nationalist pressure in the Philippines. The Dutch East Indies had existed in limbo since the revolution in Amsterdam and the British position in India was growing weaker by the month. On 1 November 1933 the British had suffered the humiliation of recognising the independence of Shimla in northern India. The vast colonial empires carved out in the 19th Century remained, but for how much longer?
These questions and the trial of Ramayyan Dalawa would be of great importance in the election year of 1935.
The subcontinent in 1935 after the reconquest of the Établissements français dans l'Inde.
Footnotes:
[1] Murat's actual rank is Maréchal de France but his title as c in c of the Army is généralissime.
[2] Since the rebels had 'won' in game terms in 1933 and declared their own independent state they dissolved most of their army. I only had to face a modest four reigment force at Madras.
[3] Another 'Jacobin' revolt in April 1935 (that I quickly quashed) rather than a nationalist revolt per se.
A couple of announcements:
First, I am delighted to say this AAR has won the 2017 Historybook AAR of the Year! I am delighted and I wanted to thank all of you for the experience I have had writing this story.
Secondly, this chapter is the penultimate 'regular' installment of this AAR. Though I might do a post or two summing things up the next chapter will be the last. I have every intention of starting a new AAR and am currently trying to decide on a country (and game!) Don't worry you won't get rid of me that easily
J_Master: Unfortunately I'm bound by the stock Great War Capitulation peace conditions which don't change governments. If it is any consolation she is enjoying a comfortable exile.
stnylan: It will have to be made by someone else I fear - I don't have that game. I loved the first two Hearts of Iron games but the micromanagement and unappealing graphics of III turned me off the series.
Specialist290: that's a very good point. French dominance - in so far as it exists at all - is a fragile thing I fear.
Viden: They probably would have if I hadn't jumped at the chance to end the war early. Otherwise there was a good chance it would have lasted beyond 1935. Ending early seemed the lesser evil than finishing the game with the fighting still going on.
InquisiteurArax: Well, that's the spirit!
guillec87: Had it started in 1929, or even 1931 it would have been!
loup99: Thank you and don't worry, there is no such thing as too long a post. Getting that sort of indepth analysis is something I very much appreciate! Perhaps some of your ideas will find answers in the finale.
Jape: That honestly sounds chillingly plausible. China is certainly not finished as a power, and even now is in a better shape than her historical counterpart even granted substantial internal dissent.
First, I am delighted to say this AAR has won the 2017 Historybook AAR of the Year! I am delighted and I wanted to thank all of you for the experience I have had writing this story.
Secondly, this chapter is the penultimate 'regular' installment of this AAR. Though I might do a post or two summing things up the next chapter will be the last. I have every intention of starting a new AAR and am currently trying to decide on a country (and game!) Don't worry you won't get rid of me that easily
J_Master: Unfortunately I'm bound by the stock Great War Capitulation peace conditions which don't change governments. If it is any consolation she is enjoying a comfortable exile.
stnylan: It will have to be made by someone else I fear - I don't have that game. I loved the first two Hearts of Iron games but the micromanagement and unappealing graphics of III turned me off the series.
Specialist290: that's a very good point. French dominance - in so far as it exists at all - is a fragile thing I fear.
Viden: They probably would have if I hadn't jumped at the chance to end the war early. Otherwise there was a good chance it would have lasted beyond 1935. Ending early seemed the lesser evil than finishing the game with the fighting still going on.
InquisiteurArax: Well, that's the spirit!
guillec87: Had it started in 1929, or even 1931 it would have been!
loup99: Thank you and don't worry, there is no such thing as too long a post. Getting that sort of indepth analysis is something I very much appreciate!
Perhaps some of your ideas will find answers in the finale.Jape: That honestly sounds chillingly plausible. China is certainly not finished as a power, and even now is in a better shape than her historical counterpart even granted substantial internal dissent.
I suppose I should give my usual 'convert to HoI4!' suggestion, but it just doesn't seem to fit the tone. I'll be looking forward to whatever you do next, in any case.
And another congratulations on the award! You certainly earned it.
And another congratulations on the award! You certainly earned it.
Ah, time to analyse the crap out of History book AARs again. I'll try not to word wall build.
This is an update that seems to very accurately reflect the idea that the peace is sometimes harder than the war.
We are fast approaching the story's climax. Something tells me that Ramayan Dalawa is merely the harbinger of things to come for India -- his success (temporary though it was) and that of Shimla have both shown that "even gods can bleed," so to speak.