Quantum Leap an American AAR

Yes, my ultimate goal is to inforce the Monroe Doctrine and remove all European colonies from the Americas. And in the mind of a conquerer, means slowly marching through Mexico, Central America, Columbia and Equador to get to the European colonies in South America. I realize that it would be simpler to execute an amphibious assault, but not nearly as much fun.

coz: I have played the Civil War multiple time and it seems that the Amphibious assaults along the coast: Charlestown SC, Tampa FL and New Orleans, really make a difference. In addition, I like to let the rebels attack first across the border into Kentucky and West Virginia against my entrench postions before counter attacking their retreating units. I can usually get a quick victory and capture the border province before they can regroup.

Sorry about the lack of posts, but work overwhelmed me this week. I hope to get back to the story on Monday.

I appreciated the extra events and they did work out well in making the war feel 'special'. One thing that I noted and I do not know if it was intentional or not, but the events do give a lot of prestige. I went from below 1000 before the war to over 2000 in less than 6 months (not that I minded ).

I only had problems with two events dealing with the Civil War and I do not know if these were your events or not, but the creation of the Republican party event had to be executed manually, otherwise the war never starts. I was never able to determine why, it seemed that it was tied to the Compromise of 1850 but no matter how I answered the 1850 event, I could not get the Republican Party created. The other problem was that the reconstruction event was set for 1856 instead of 1866, so the south was being reconstructed five years before the war. These may have been fixed in later VIP releases as I am still running an early version.

Again, thanks for the extra events (the more the merrier).

Again it was a short time between wars as David and his cabinet became fixated on gathering more and more raw materials. They spent the spring expanding resources, building railroads, securing recent gains and reorganizing the military. The first step was to standardize the three brigade triangle divisions, with a few isolated brigades used for garrison duty. The Army was broken up into four separate commands: South American, Africa Corp, Pacific and Home Guards. Note: I manually renamed all of my units to keep track of where they were located and what campaign they were on. Once the army was reorganized and brought back up to full strength, David opened discussions regarding were Manifest Destiny directed them to go. Suggestions ranges all over the globe: South American, Africa, Asia. Though Britain was a great rival, David did not want to battle Queen Victoria yet. Gazing over Europe, David’s eyes were drawn toward the Ottoman Empire: The sick man of Europe. David thought to himself, ‘Yes, the sick man, we will take away the colonies from the sick man.”

The summer of 1862 saw the six brigades of the Africa Corp being dispatched to the horn of Africa with instructions to occupy Turkish colonies in East Africa and Arabia. In addition, the three brigades of the Pacific command was ordered to occupy Midway and Bonin Islands. So, on August 17th, 1862, the United States declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Serbia, Wallachia and Modavia supported their ally by declaring war on the United States. By September 1st, the Africa Corp had landed in Hadramut and the Pacific command was battling the defending forces on Midway. A few days later the first Ottoman relief force arrived off of the coast of Hadramut and after a three day battle, the remaining Ottoman ships fled north. By the middle of September the first telegraph reports started to reach Washington. Hadramut had fallen on the 13th, two American brigades were still assaulting the defending forces on Midway, while the third brigade was shuttling around the Pacific securing undefended Ottoman claims. The war continued through October, with the Africa Corp liberated Raschid before moving on toward Keshim, while the three Pacific brigades finished securing claim and returned to Midway to help with the assault. November saw the battle for Midway enter its fourth month and the first successful counter attack by the Turks. The same week that the Africa Corp liberated Keshim, the Turks recaptured Hadramut with troops that appeared out of nowhere (I guess the Turks had military access to one of the Arabian nations). The New Year brought two early victories. First, the battle of Midway finally ended with the complete destruction of the Midway defenders and the second resulted in the expulsion of Turks from Hadramut. The Africa Corp quickly loaded all but one brigade onto transports to shuttle across to east Africa and the Pacific command rested and reinforced before assaulting Bonin.

February opened with War erupting across Europe. Denmark and Prussia went to war over Slesvig and before the dusk settled, Denmark, Sweden, Holstein and the United Kingdom were at war with Prussia and Hannover. But the war in Europe served only to distract the European rivals from the United States expansion. The beginning of February saw the assault on the only remaining Turkish forces in Africa. Four brigades attacked from Berbera into Yebuti while a single brigade preformed an amphibious assault. In addition, the forces from Midway arrived and started their assuault on Bonin. Reports trickled in through out February about the battles: Yebuti appeared to be going well; however, the Turkish forces in Bonin appeared to be very well entrenched.

Harrison rushed into the Oval Office early in the morning of March 3, 1863, ‘Mr. Presdent, it’s the Turks.’ David looked up, “Yes, what did they do now? You have a report about the war?’ Harrison was breathing heavy from his running, “Sir, it is the Turks! They are coming!’ David leaned back in his chair, “They are sending a peace delegation already?’ Harrision shook his head, “No Sir, not a peace delegation, at least three Turkish divisions just landed in Washington!’ David jumped up, ‘WHAT! Do we have any forces here in Washington?’ Harrison replied, ‘No, just ceremonial troops.’ General Scott marched into the Oval Office as quickly as his seventy plus years allowed him to, “Mr. President, it is time for you to leave.’ David started to protest about not running with his tail between his legs, when General Scott interrupted him with a laud voice, “Troopers move in.” Immediately, ten soldiers rushed into the office, tackled David and quickly tied him up. David continued to yell and scream about being commander and chief and as was carried off, General Scott saluted and told him that the President was welcome to court martial him once the President was safely in New York. By noon, David was miles north of Washington, riding comfortably in a carriage, or at least as comfortable as someone who is hog-tied can ride comfortably. At least the troopers untied them after the first day as David realized the foolishness of staying in Washington, “It is only a city”. As the President moved north he encountered more and more Army troops moving south. It appears that the five Home Guard divisions were spread out through Penn and New York on maneuvers and as soon as he heard about the attack, General Grant started to move the army back to Washington. While the battle of Washington continued, David started to form a plan on how to finish this war. 'Hmm, European seem too fixated on Capitals'

The first regular army troops arrived in Washington within days of the attack and slowly the US Army drove the Turks out of Washington. Three key battle rages throughout March 1863: Washington, Bonin Island and Yebuti East Africa. During this time David recalled the Atlantic fleet from East Africa back to Washington to prevent the Turks from reinforcing their forces in Washington. On March 28th, a telegram to New York informed the President that the Pacific command was forced to retreat from Bonin and that the transports were retreating back to Midway for re-supply and reinforcements. Although news of the defeat concerned David, they good news that followed helped him focus on finishing the war. First, news that the Turkish army in Washington was destroyed and that the new naval ships were ready for deployment. When that last report came in, a puzzled David asks the clerk, “What new naval ships? We did not commission any new ships.” The clerk responded, “Yes sir, they are the confederate ships that were started during the war, we decided to continue producing them once we captured the shipyards. Between the new constructions and the existing Atlantic Fleet, we have six ironclads, three monitors and 15 steamer transports.” David blew out a long whistle, “That is truly good news. Now it is time to punish the Turks for attacking Washington.’ Then in a quiet whisper that no one could hear, “and we will avenge you Winfield.”

It was not until mid-April that the memorial service for Winfield Scott was held, David insisted that it be held in Washington DC. The mall in front of the Capital building was packed with thousands of troops, dignitaries and guests and the day was filled with speeches and tributes, some from the few survivors of the troopers that initially defended Washington with General Scott until reinforcements arrived. They described the three days that a few hundred troopers fought to keep thousands of Turks outside the city until the regular Army troops started arriving. By the end of the speeches the soldiers were beginning to chant “For General Scott, For General Scott”. David stood up on the platform looking out at the sea of blue soldiers behind the dignitaries and listened to the chants. He realized that the soldiers would repeat that chant when they marched into Constantinople.

General Grant reported to David the following day, ‘Sir it will be another eight weeks before the American Expedition Force is supplied and ready to leave. I have them stationed here in Maryland and Virginia and the Navy is re-supplying in Norfolk. Even though Grant knew the answer, he had to ask “are you sure that you want to leave only one Home Guard division here in Washington.” David replied, “Yes, I am sure, if the attack on Constantinople is to succeed, you are not just going to need to capture the city, but also to hold it.” By mid-May the preparation were almost complete, when the Turks attacked again, but this time, the four Turkish divisions were destroyed in just three days. Although the attack postpone the launch of the AEF until July, that news was softened by news that Yebuti had been captured and that the East Africa Brigades were spreading out to capture Turkish claims.

The AEF left Chesapeake Bay on July 16th and encountered the Turkish navy off the coast of North Africa one month later. After a running two-day battle, the Turkish Navy retreated and the Atlantic Fleet was able to sail unmolested up to Constantinople. On September 11th 1863, American troops attacked the Turkish forcees defending Constantinople, defeated the defending forces within a week and started the long siege. The siege lasted from September until November 7th 1863. During this time, both Serbia and Wallachia sued for peace with the United State with a return to status quo. Unbeknownst to David, General Grant started negotiating a settlement with the Sultan, so while David dispatched the Secretary of State to try and acquire the Pacific, African and remote Arab holdings of the Ottoman Turks. General Grant accepted the surrender of the Turks, the transfer of Bonin, Midway, Yebuti, Korinthos, Tripolis, Patra, Rodos and Mitilini. When David received the report he went ballistic, “GREECE!!! You accepted provinces in GREECE!!!!” David slowly calmed down, he realized that they succeeded in getting Pacific and Africa, but just not any of Arabia. Although they now had a foothold in Europe, David still had to worry about maintaining control of five remote Greek provinces. (Note: I made an offer for the provinces that I wanted but they rejected it, the a few days later the Turks made a peace offering that I had intended on rejecting, but accidentally hit the accept button.)

The White House survived this war, General Scott's defense around the city held long enough for reinforcements to arrived and drive the Turks away.

David realized that the army and navy were spread thin across the world, so it was decided that 1864 would be an expansion of the military year. The AEF was reassigned the first through fourth Greek Divisions, two additional divisions were added to the South American Command, six additional divisions were added to Africa Corp and six additional divisions were added to the Pacific Command. In addition, 15 additional Naval transports were started. Publicly, David announced that he would campaign for re-election, while privately, he actually decided that he simply wanted to take a vacation from Washington and travel around the country. The re-election was not even close; David won with over a 2-1 advantage over his opponent.

Though 1864 was the ‘vacation from war year’, 1865 started off with David back to work. Whenever, David studied the map, his eyes constantly moved back to Arabia and oil. To everyone else in the world, Arabia was simply sand and opium. But, David knew what would be discovered there and what importance that that region would play in the 20th Century, so he was determined to secure that for America. The peace treaty with the Turks still had another four years, but Oman was a small independent country with no declared allies, so as part of Lincoln’s second inauguration address on March 17th, it was announced that the United States had declared war on Oman. Regrettably, Zanzibar dishonoured their alliance, so they avoided annexation. The war was expected to be short, so David left he entire operation under the Africa Corp, but that decision turned a short war into a long war. Even though the Africa Corp won every engagement and never truly encountered any strong resistance, they simply did not have the numbers to quickly conquer Oman. It was summer before American troops had opened fronts in Arabia, East Africa and the island of Soccotra, and it was not until December that the first province was liberated.

February 14th 1866 was another cold day in Washington. David spent the evening reading the news from Europe about the Prussian and Austrian War. He started to draft a letter ordering the return of the Home Guard from Richmond, since it had been over six months since they had been dispatched to suppress another rebellion, but he decided to finish it the next day. Unfortunately, he would never get the chance. Early in the morning of February 15th, 1866, Omani assassins entered the White House and killed the President and imprisoned the staff in the basement. In a scene out of Homer Iliad, Oman troops hiding in various French merchant ships also entered Washington that night and secured the defensive positions around the city. Omani transports hiding over the horizon quickly sailed in that day and completed the capture of Washington. Note: I was pre-occupied with the war in Arabia, it was not until the message popped up that “We have lost control of Washington” did I realize that someone was going on. My first thought, was ‘damn, I did not know they had a navy’. Luckily, Vice President Johnson was in New York meeting with the New England Governor’s Associations and General Grant was in Richmond with the Home Guard. Within a week, Grant had marched north and surrounded Washington. Then within another week, the entire Omani army in Washington was destroyed. Though the White House was not destroyed, it was ransacked, so it was weeks before President Johnson slept in the White House.

David woke to the familiar ‘Good morning, Mr. President’, but the voice was not right. David looked over at the unknown servant, “Where is Harrison?” The servant looked puzzled, ‘Sir, Harrison was one of the few servants killed when President Lincoln was assassinated. David’s mind raced, Lincoln had been assassinated, Harrison was dead, and he jumped up out of bed and rushed over to the mirror to see Andrew Johnson looking back at him. David then looked around the room, it looked different, some new furniture, flowers outside in the garden, “What day it this?” With a look of concern the servant responded, “It is May 20th sir.’ David peppered the servant with question after question until he was able to fill in the gaps regarding the previous few months. It appeared that the Omani troops had damage the White House, so that last night was the first night that the new President Johnson was able to spend under its roof. It took most the day for David to ‘catch up’ on what had happened. It appears that after the destruction of the Omani army, General Grant had dispatched the Greek Command to Oman to ‘accelerate’ the liberation of the country and their arrival had force Oman to surrender all of its provinces except for the capital.

The August of 1866 saw two diplomatic developments for the United States. First, another major war in Europe started with Russia and Montenegro declaring war on Austria and a half dozen German minors. The second was the end of the Mexican Peace Treaty. Though tempted, David realized that the country still needed time to adjust to the new President, as well as, the country needed time to finish expanding factories and infrastructures. However, David still ordered an increase in defense spending and an increase in the strength of the divisions along the Mexican border. So, that by November of 1866, sufficient forces were in place to attack Mexico. War was declared on November 1st and the four armies arrived in Villa do Leon, Tampico, San Juan del Rio and Colima roughly three weeks later. The American forces liberated those four provinces before moving on to Valladolid, Veracruz, Tlascala and Tejupa. So that by the second week of January 1867, the American forces had liberated eight Mexican provinces without firing a single shot in combat. The next to fall was the capital of Mexico City and a quick offer of peace with the United States receiving: Veracruz, Tejupa, Valladolid, Tlascala, Loreto, Tampico, Colima, San Juan del Rio and Villa de Leon.

Even with the quick victory of Mexico, the American public was turning against the President. David also realized that even though he had spent the time ‘in between’ war working on infrastructure and industry, the country was needed a massive overhaul. Therefore, David ordered drastic cutbacks in the Military and spent the next four years expanding resource collections, factories and railroads. Even though America remained at peace during the late 1860s, the Austrio-Russian War continued until 1868 when Austria surrenders Brody, Lviv, Przemysl, Ternopol and Dubrovnik to Russia. Late 1870 saw French colonial ambitions fuel a war with Morocco and the Ottoman Empire, with the Spanish, Sicilians and Egyptians quickly joining France in hopes of gaining their own small piece of the pie.

David now acting as President Grant started to receive reports in late 1870 of transfers of Spanish garrisons from the Philippines to Ottoman Front. David quickly ordered the transfer of two South American Command divisions to the Pacific command and the creation of two replacement divisions for the South American Command. The Pacific fleet shuttled the forces from the West Coast to the South Pacific in preparation for the Spanish-American War. During the first half of 1871 forces in the Greek, Pacific and African Commands were reinforced and brought up to full strength, so that on July 4th 1871, twin declarations of war were issued to Oman and Spain. The American forces struck quickly before the Spanish could react. The Pacific command landed forces on Mindoro and Mindanao, while the Atlantic fleet landed six divisions from the Greek Command in Sevilla within two weeks of the declaration of war. Sevilla was liberated on August 6th, but the Spanish had regrouped and counter attack that same day. After a fierce two day battle, the Spanish were driving off with the American in hot pursuit. Leaving behind one engineering division to secure the beachhead, the rest of the American force moved inland toward Cordoba, where the American caught up to the retreating Spanish and routed them on August 27th. Meanwhile, the East African command moved against the Oman capital, captured and annex the county without difficulty. However, the Western African command quickly realized that it did not have sufficient forces to dislodge the Spanish garrisons, so instead the Americans simply dug in near the Spanish forces to ‘keep them pinned down’, while the African cavalry moved around western Africa securing Spanish trading posts. By mid September, Cordoba was liberated, but Spain was counter attacking both Cordoba and Sevilla from all directions. Luckily the counter-attacks were not coordinated and were defeated piecemeal. Again, the Americans left one division in Cordoba and moved the remainder of the army northeast to the next province. By the end of September, the Spanish counter attacks began to lessen and the Americans continued their slow advance toward Madrid. Also, by the end of September, the Pacific command had liberated Mindoro and Mindanao, and had successfully landed troops Luzon. The Pacific commander had chosen Luzon because it was the only undefended province on the Philippine mainland. Throughout the fall of 1871, the Americans continued their advance toward Madrid they noticed two things. First, that one in three divisions that they faced appeared to be French divisions that were loaned to Spain and second, that a majority of counter attacks were coming from north of the American forces and west of Madrid. So, a plan was developed that once Madrid fell, the American army would turn west and loop back around to cut off and annihilate the Spanish/French forces. On November 13th 1871, American forces liberated Madrid. On November 14th, Spain sued for peace with the Ottoman Empire with a return to status quo. That same day, American forces, less one garrison division for Madrid, set off toward Toledo Spain. Although the American forces were able to reach Toledo and liberate the province, they were not able to advance any futher. Spanish forces continuously counter attacked and counter attacked. Though the Americans were never in danger of losses any divisions and won the battles easily, they realized that they could simply dig in and wait for the Spanish to give up. During this same time the Pacific command liberated Luzon and started to prepare a trap in anticipation of a Spanish attack and although the Spanish did not counter attack Luzon, they did shift there troops out of Leyte into Manilla, thus allowing the Americans to land troops into an undefended Leyte. Then once Leyte was liberated, pincer attack from Luzon and Leyte attacked Manilla and destroyed the Spanish’s Philippine army in early 1872. The American forces were extended as far as they could safely go without risking the loss of the forces, so negotiations started with the Spanish over terms. So on February 6, 1872, Spain surrendered all of their Philippine colonies, African colonies and Puerto Rico to the United States. When David read the treaty, he slapped his forehead and said, “Puerto Rico! I forgot about Puerto Rico, good thing they offered that colony or we would have had another war in five years.”

A few days later, David split off two divisions from the African command and named them the Arabian Command and ordered them to cross the border and annex Abu Dhabi, so that by June of 1872, Abu Dhabi was part of the United States.