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Interesting. Let's just see what the Russian says. This could lead to a very interesting and highly anticipated conflict.

I really pity mein Emperor. This is a classic case of damn if you do, damn if you don't.
 
Heathen! By tradition, the honour of the 1000th post in an AAR should be given to the AARist, who will post something so ridiculously awesome our heads will explode!

Congratulations on this AAR reaching a 1000 posts, Rensslaer! As a gift to you, tonight I will stay up all night catching up (which I have been trying to do, but you're updating so it's like two step forwards and one step back, but that's a good thing) and crafting a complete index that is so awesome, it is worthy of this AAR.

The only question is the colour and font you want it in, and also if you want me to think of titles for the updates, or if that should be a task up to you, the author. If not, my descriptions of the updates will be limited to: 'Diary of Erwin von Kauperke: Oct 2 - 12, 1835', that is the category and the date. If I think of titles, the former will probably be: 'Diary of Erwin von Kauperke: Introduction, Becoming Prime Minister: Oct 2 - 12, 1835'

EDIT: Alright, that was the 1001st post. But I think that it should be the traditional 'post' instead because it begins the 41st page, and ushers in the second 'milpostium', so to speak.
 
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anonymous4401 said:
Heathen! By tradition, the honour of the 1000th post in an AAR should be given to the AARist, who will post something so ridiculously awesome our heads will explode!

Sorry........ :eek:o
 
Actually, I was looking anxiously forward to the 1000th post, but it never occurred to me to try to secure the honor for myself! Quite all right, thank you.

anonymous4401 said:
Congratulations on this AAR reaching a 1000 posts, Rensslaer! As a gift to you, tonight I will stay up all night catching up (which I have been trying to do, but you're updating so it's like two step forwards and one step back, but that's a good thing) and crafting a complete index that is so awesome, it is worthy of this AAR. .
Wow! I am honored, Anonymous, that you would take on such a task. I do worry, however, that you will find it as daunting as did I!

I actually started compiling such an index, which is located at another equally portentous post location -- post #777.

I have no idea, really, how many updates I've made. I suspect, from what I remember of the indexing, that it has been about 200 separate update pages. Recognizing the unwieldy aspects of an index so long and comprehensive, I gave up and decided to pick my 50 favorite updates.

I would be glad to have a full index, too, even if that means giving up some spoilers (I really enjoyed the cliffhangers, especially the unexpected turnaround when I was expecting anyday to get the "Fall of Prussia" event at the hands of France!). Perhaps they could be located in two different locations.

I'll be up all night myself (security shift), and would be glad to converse by PM about this if you like!

Thanks for all your support and encouragement! And everybody else, too! Even those of you who don't regularly post, but who read, I know you're out there! Thanks for everything! It keeps me going. ;)

Rensslaer
 
prussiablue said:
Sorry........ :eek:o
Not to worry, Sir! :D I'm really glad to have you along, with your comments and all!

And you're quite correct about "damned if you do, damned if you don't". As I think you'll see over the next 3-4-5 updates. :eek:

Rensslaer
 
Yes, it will be daunting. But the HOI2 LibrAARy was daunting, and I managed to do that! :cool:

So I will make it without titles, then, to make it as spoiler-free as possible. Just the type and the dates. To make it even less spoiler-free, the narrative sections will not give the characters in the update, but will be entitled "The Main Story". Is that all right? Of course, if you want a better name then that, all you have to do is ask.
 
Yes congratulations on reaching this milestone. Given how long you have yet to go this could well turn into one of the longest AARs these boards have ever seen.
 
You have a looooong way to go

If you don't count the Italy RPG/AAR, which is a collaborative, Mettermrck's Advantages Without Obligations has 2486 at this moment.

Good luck! My Magnum Opus AAR that is coming out Jan 1, 2006 is planned to be 320 updates, by the way. That is updates alone. Who can imagine the # of replies in the separate commentary thread? :cool: But that's if all goes as planned, which it never does. :(
 
Yes, I was going to say - Secret Master has a pretty long one as well, and Mett's is...um...not short. ;)

However, you will certainly give them a run for the money, and I look forward to seeing you do just that! Congrats on reaching the milestone. Hopefully, I will too at some point...oh, maybe in 2010. :wacko: :D
 
Not With a Bang, But With a Whimper...

Pavel could not account for their good fortune.

Civilian Poles normally had no access to modern weapons. Normally, they had only the use of their obsolete flintlocks – their personal weapons. Had they ever mounted any resistance – and they had in years past – they would have been easily cut down by loyal elements of the Habsburg Army – and they had in years past.

Wisely, the Austrians had always sent soldiers of ethnic minorities to regions far from their homes. Pavel’s son, Krysz, for instance, was in Slovenia, where he was as estranged from the native population as from his German commanders. Most of the Polish soldiers in Austrian service were elsewhere. Only the civilian reserves remained.

Polish patriots had already begun to speak and agitate for an independent Poland when the order for mobilization came. He and Patryck had been mobilized into the reserves for the defense of the Empire a week past.

And three days past, it had become clear that the Empire was in turmoil and confusion. People were protesting for democracy. Soldiers were protesting for democracy! And the Austrian Army was paralyzed by indecision and fear.

The change had come over the course of five hours on Tuesday afternoon. Feldwebel Pavel Skiedweza of the Austrian Imperial Army Reserve had become Major Pavel Skiedweza of the Polish Revolutionary Army. It had become clear that the time was now.

And now, Skiedweza led 300 Polish reservists in an advance to the Austrian armory at Bielitz (Bielsko), immediately east of Prussian Teschen (Cieszyn). They had come last week to receive their weapons. Now they returned to use them.

Three of the Austro-German soldiers who had guarded the armory were fleeing, gradually, down the cobblestoned street. They would turn, fire at the mass of pedestrian rebels, then run thirty meters and take another stand. Inaccurate gunfire followed after them.

Skiedweza, trusting only in God to protect him, trotted his horse forward slowly. His eyes were fixed on the gray-clad riflemen down the street.

A shot from the armory drew his attention. A Polish private fell with only a grunt, a small red stain marring the breast of his wool coat. Reining in, Pavel directed fire at the window from which the shot had come. A squad of Poles hurried up the steps into the stone building which housed enough weapons to arm hundreds more patriots.

“Patryck!” he called to his brother, who hurried up to his horse’s side. “Go around the other side of the building,” Pavel pointed, “and offer the defenders their lives if they will just run out the back.”

Patryck grinned, knowingly. “Of course.”

Patryck!” Pavel glared. “Make sure none of your men fires at them.” When Patryck seemed to balk, Pavel emphasized. “They are common men, just like us. But they have no cause to fight for. Let them go, and they will.”

Reluctantly, Patryck acknowledged and led a dozen soldiers through the alley.

Soon, it was clear that the arsenal would fall into their hands without stiff resistance. The Imperial Army hadn’t any fight left in it. Poland was free! The Austrian-occupied part of it, anyway.

Pavel’s thoughts immediately went to his son, Krysz. Was he still in Slovenia? Was his road as easy, and would he return to fight beside his father? Or would he have to run for his life? Would he ever see blessed Krysz again?

Sporadic gunfire still echoed here and there – mostly in the distance. Through the fog caused by his breath, he could see only the two remaining Austrians rounding a corner down the street and leaving the scene. His Poles were milling around, waiting for the signal from those already inside that it was clear to enter the armory.

Having seen battle before – desperate, scrabbling struggles for life – Pavel knew this was not the fight they expected. That task remained for them, in the future.

Pavel crossed himself and said a prayer for Krysz. And for Poland.

austrianend.jpg
 
You know, that briefing treats the issue with such a breezy attitude. Quite humorous considering what a momentus occasion it discusses. But they brought it upon themselves.

So, does this mean an independant Poland has formed? And if so, what will the Prussian Poles say about it? It's kind of like the Turks and the idea of an independant Kurdish state next door. There is always the fear that the minority might rise up.
 
Hmmm, I think the operative word is interesting. One does have to wonder precisely what government there is left to announce anything. I presume we will discover that - the heady liquor of revolution will soon give way to the hangover of civil war, or something similar at least.
 
Is there such an event? I haven't play Austria so I don't know. What is the effect of this event? Is this where Hungary, Venice and other states break free ( I seen this happen) but don't remember any Poland created.

Anyway, a good pretext for the mighty Prussian to intervene "as to restore parity and order", ;)
 
Great work Renss, congrats on your 1000th post, to the future and beyond!

I have seen similar events, but perhaps not this precise one, I will be interested to see the results.
 
prussiablue said:
Is there such an event? I haven't play Austria so I don't know. What is the effect of this event? Is this where Hungary, Venice and other states break free ( I seen this happen) but don't remember any Poland created.
As you know, in my game I have had some rather odd event problems.

I must assume it is because my Prussia has followed such an atypical route to power. The unification was achieved in an unusual way, with substantial separation between the war with Austria and the next war with France, as well as other oddities (North and South German Confederations, etc.). But all these things seem to have overwhelmed the game AI or the event triggers.

It’s also possible that some of my modding had an unintentional effect on the events or triggers or something, though I really hadn’t done that much modding, and I can’t imagine anything that would have had such a result.

In any case, when I chose to switch Germany into a democracy, I was shocked and amazed to get the “Popular Unification of Germany” event (which normally would sleep by about 1850 or so, I thought!), which basically released non-German Austria as Hungary and caused the rest to instantly surrender to Prussia/Germany. I think the idea was to have the German provinces of Austria to join Germany in a popular union. But, naturally, if you take away the German provinces from Austria, then it’s no longer Austria! So… Suddenly Germany was in control of most of central Europe, and it just didn’t sit well with me. It wasn’t realistic, and I could see no way to explain it in the AAR.

So I pulled out an event that I mentioned to you long, long ago (almost a year ago, real time!)… during the previous war with Austria. If you’ll remember the scene where Rensselaer tracks down Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm in the hills of Slovenia ( the scene + the explanation & event ) and explains the peace settlement to him (and the Kronprinz was none too happy about it!). At that time I modded an event called “The Collapse of the Habsburg Dynasty” which during the next takeover of Vienna would give to Prussia all of Austria-Hungary’s German-populated provinces, as well as a land route to the Adriatic Sea, as Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm had desperately wished to create in the 1860’s.

It also released Austria’s subject nations – all of them – (including the Balkan states, a small Hungary, Slovakia, etc.), instead of making the rather absurd assumption that the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy would result in a re-creation of the old Hungarian Empire. In order to have that result (a Hungarian Empire), the Hungarians would have to militarily enforce it – something they were in no shape to do, in any case. Besides, by the time a Hungarian power structure came to exist, strong enough to make policy, the constituent parts of the Habsburg Empire would already have established their own armies and power structures, making them hard to dislodge. So this is what I modded, in hopes that it would seem more realistic.

As part of being realistic, I modded an instant rebellion in Trieste and Ljubljana, as these provinces would have wanted to be part of an independent Slovenia – a country whose lands Prussia wished to keep for its own purposes, and which Prussia would fight to keep in spite of the wishes of the Slovenes.

It definitely is more interesting! As we shall certainly continue to see….

ss217a.jpg
 
Thanks for your satisfactory explaination. I do remember that scene. In fact the KP was not very happy about it seeing that the Prussian have control over great part of Austria. Seems like yesterday....
 
Crikey what a mess. But quite a good event.