Calling in the Old Guard: Austria 1936

[KURT]
What's the year?
Well it's gotta be close to '38
My people're talking to me
They say, "Time for glory"


NOTE: The capture of Tulcea was a primary objective, as it blocked Germany from advancing further south. As it turns out, the three provinces north of Tulcea fell to Austria when Romania was annexed, but they were ceded to Germany out of gratitude... and for blueprints.

They say, "We've given them an Austrian fear
We've nearly satiated our hate
We've gotta charge those Entente types and wipe
Them from the story"


NOTE: Ataturk thought he was smart, landing a couple of soldiers in North Africa. Tsk, tsk.

Our grudge goes back from the last act
But this play's turning, now that we've won the war
Five Ententes enslaved
Though our future's paved
With saved monarchs and kingdoms reborn

[as KURT sings, he makes his way to Rome and St. Peter's Basilica]




NOTE: No, this image is not from my actual game.

We don't need more power
We've nearly settled our score
If you lend a hand
By just crowning one more

Let's make a
Kaiserreich
We have to shape a
Kaiserreich
You want a say?
Let's do it your way
Otto just had his
Twenty-fifth birthday
Name a Kaiserreich (Sieg heil!)

Ooh-oh-a-ooh, oh ja... oh ja, ja...

When you got some land scraps from Benny
Did you really have guarantees?
Well now he's gone. We'll make you strong,
Just grant legitimacy

Just make a
Kaiserreich
Uh-huh
We need a
Kaiserreich

You want a place?
Purge our disgrace?
Let's go and crown a Habsburg face
Kaiserreich

Emperorless empires can't be
What's a monarch-bereft Dual Monarchy?
Let's take a lunge toward unity
And make things right

Oh let's set this throne
In a way that everyone can condone
And past injustices
Fade into the night

Let's make a
Kaiserreich
We have to shape a
Kaiserreich
We'll conspire
Through all that transpires
Wanna get back your Holy Roman
Empire?
Just make our
Kaiserreich

Please make a
Kaiserreich
Don't forsake the
Kaiserreich
Let's all create a
Kaiserreich
-serreich... -serreich
Kaiserreich


[PIUS XI]
What do you think this is?
Who says that throne is even his?
Mr. Fascist -- hey
Your country's that way
We don't have to listen
To every order you say
Take your armies -- take your Blitzkrieg
Belligerence
Is not what we need
Well, take your nostalgia-based claims
Your empire, your ill-gotten gains

I should tell you, I should tell you
I should tell you, I should -- no!

Another age -- another time
We'd be your watchful sage
It might've worked out fine
We'd bless your soldiers out
We'd have kind things to say
Now if you're gonna pout
Crown him another way
Another way


[KURT]
Your voice can break or it can thrive
We've claimed our stake. Our kingdom will survive
It never died
It is not past
We can remake all things to last
There's only one
There's no way out
You must take part
Or sacrifice your clout
No other time
No other day
This is the only way

[PIUS XI]
Pardon me if I digress
But if you're so great
Then tell your friends in the S.S.
Take your party
Take your militant sass
And don't forget
Your Nazis and their broken glass
We've endured Italian fascists, true
But what makes you think we'd do more than endure you?

Another era -- another place
We'd make non-Christians fear and
Crown your Habsburg's face
It'd be a different world
You'd rule a different day
You wanna bet I'm wrong?
Then try some other way
Another way

[KURT]
There's only ja
Only through you
You can't let go
Ignoring all we do
No other means
No other path
Don't incur our wrath

[WILHELM and MIKLÓS appear]

[KURT, WILHELM, and MIKLÓS]
You can't abstain

[PIUS XI]
You can't have both ways

[KURT, WILHELM, and MIKLÓS]
From reality

[PIUS XI]
With your racist pals

[KURT, WILHELM, and MIKLÓS]
Don't be the bane

[PIUS XI]
You've made the world your bane

[KURT, WILHELM, and MIKLÓS]
Of our new society

[PIUS XI]
Then stop attacking your neighbors



[HAILE, BORIS, and SULTAN ABDUL HAMID II appear, joining KURT's group]

[KURT, et al] ************* [PIUS XI]
There's only this ********** What do you think this is?
Only empire **************
'Twould be remiss ********* Who says that throne is even his?
To let this chance expire ****
No other road ************ Mr. Fascist -- hey
No room for nay ********** Your country's that way
This is the only way *******

[PIUS XI]
Not so long as I have a say

[KURT, WILHELM, MIKLÓS, HAILE, BORIS, and ABDUL]
This is the only way

[PIUS XI]
Take your army -- take your Blitzkrieg

[KURT, et al]
This is the only way

[PIUS XI]
Take your puppets, your vengeance wars, your Nazi chums

[KURT, et al]
This is the only way

[PIUS XI]
Another epoch -- 'nother age
Another step -- a different page

[KURT, et al]
This is the only way

[PIUS XI]
Another street -- another fray
Until we meet

Another way


NOTE: With Italy gone, Ethiopia's colour has been changed for convenience.

CHEATS, MODDING, AND OTHER QUESTIONABLE DEEDS THUS FAR (from most to least heinous)

1) Loaded a saved game after underestimating the randomness of A.I. war declarations in "Furious" mode.

2) Used "acceptall" to demand conquered provinces and blueprints from Hungary, my puppet.

3) Loaded two saved games because Germany concluded a generous peace with Yugoslavia after all their Victory Points had been taken. The first time Belgrade was Austrian, and I was just too slow. The second time Belgrade was Hungarian, and I presumed the Hungarian A.I. would be quick enough to annex Yugoslavia before the German A.I. gave them back most of their land. I was wrong.

4) Loaded a saved game as Hungary, my puppet, so I could annex Yugoslavia and be done with the ridiculousness mentioned above.

5) Militarily controlled Hungary, my puppet.

6) Created an event to liberate the Ottoman Empire, giving myself 3 dissent in the process (which apparently adds on to regular liberation dissent, so I actually shortchanged myself). Despite having more than the minimum requirements for releasing Ottoman Empire, I was unable to do so. I saved and experimented with the sliders, determining such things as the fact that democracies can liberate Italy, dictatorships can liberate the Italian Social Republic, and social conservatives *cannot* liberate Turkey. In the end, I just used the custom event.

Incidentally, this event also slept Ataturk and Inonu as Ottoman ministers, and it moved the capital to Istanbul.

7) Hungary successfully demanded Slovakia. Though I didn't personally do anything immoral... it does feel a little cheap.

[CITIZENS OF VIENNA]
Something's up with Kurt
Something's up with Kurt
Don't know if there's something wrong or if he's hurt

Up in the Reichsrat
Locked behind his door
Hasn't made a peep
Hope we're not at war

Something's up with Kurt
Something's up with Kurt



[KURT]
Empire is ringing through my ears
How can I hold it down? I cannot see
There are so many troubles here at home
And now no one will coronate in Rome
The many subjects' dissent's on the rise
With this new patch, I guess it's no surprise

Something's there, I can't quite say
Another means to have my way
Though I cannot grasp this breach
Tip of my fingers, out of my reach
What could it be?
What could it be?

[KURT browses through newspapers on his desk, many of which speak of crime waves in the newly-conquered empire]

At every moment headlines lay
The backdrop for a troubling day
All people can't be satisfied
Not even close! God knows I've tried

Consumer goods are in demand
Can't even make a rifleman
Transport capacity has dropped
Surely something makes it stop
What could it be?
What could it be?
Hmm...

[KURT flips through some books]

I've read these histories through days and nights
For each great kingdom, I know its plight
I've studied how the Roman Empire fell
I've heard what Spain and Portugal can tell
So many monarchs; every creed and race
But what can help reset our own in place?

[By chance, KURT drops a history book open to a mysterious page. He glances at it, abstractly at first]

Or perhaps it's not so much a stretch
As I at first would guess
Am I searching the wrong path?
Yes! I see the way it goes
The answer's right under my nose
Under my nose!

It's really quite the Paradox
Like vaccination through cowpox
A leap of faith, o'er jagged rocks
It may at first just seem insane
But let's leap *to* that hurricane

You know, a king's legit'macy
Need not descend from papacy
Why should Austria have no voice?
We *are* the ones to make the choice

And not just my "Fatherland" party
But *all* in our superb country
And nothing could make this more right
Than national, free plebiscite!

I bet we'll vote to crown him, too
So that's precisely what I'll do!

[KURT bursts open his window, appearing in sight of the Vienna citizens]

Eureka! Change is in the wind
This year, the ban on opposition parties shall be... lifted!

[Cheers answer him from below, the citizens almost euphoric]


NOTE: Have moved Democracy slider to the left for both 1937 and 1938; government is now Social Conservative. The new cabinet emphasises research, supplies, submarines, and industry.

[WILHELM]
Draw forth, draw forth, let all worries cease
And come celebrate a new era of peace
We've won all our wars, our power's increased
The fruit of our struggle: victorious peace!

[AUSTRIAN CIVILIANS]
The fruit of our struggle: victorious peace!

[WILHELM]
In an age free from conflict, we'll do what we can
To triumph with a new Imperial Plan!

[After a fresh round of applause, WILHELM steps from the podium. He is replaced by KURT, who receives his own raucous applause.]


[KURT]
The fact that it's a simple plan, I'm sure, is no surprise
Consumer goods will rise and bring dissent's demise
'Til there's zero percent (on this, all else relies)
Then we devise - to succeed in our tries
For new demands on Tábor, until a Czech complies

[AUSTRIAN CIVILIANS]
Oh my, but isn't that unwise?

[KURT]
I know a threat implies, but our cabinet surmised
That if the Czech indeed defies, it still won't trigger battle cries
This is a key consideration - so it deserves reprise:
"I know a threat implies, but our cabinet surmised
That if the Czech indeed defies, it still won't trigger battle cries"
Peace is our motivation: money, industry, supplies
And we'll be apprised of blueprints from our Deutsch allies, through which we'll rule the seas and skies!

[An AUSTRIAN]
The Plan's a strange one slightly, but I find its success likely

[Another AUSTRIAN]
We must work daily and nightly, if we are to do it rightly

[WILHELM]
But the work shall not be war. Rejoice now and forevermore!



[AUSTRIANS]
Disarm! Peace in our time
What sort of peace? A winner's peace!
Disarm! There'll be peace in our time
No trick - no pantomime. Our age is golden, mighty fine
No trick, there'll be peace in our time
War's no longer worthwhile
Combat's gone out of style
Frieden heil!
Let's modernise and earn and learn a better life
Disarm, war is disgrace
Sing tenor, sing it bass
Let all know there'll be peace in our time!

[ARTHUR takes the podium]


[ARTHUR]
As leader of Austria's Nazi Party (in this severed province of Germany) I announce our opposition

[a NAZI]
To this unhealthy style of fascism, this schism

[ARTHUR]
This schism!

[a NAZI]
It is... umm...

[ARTHUR]
Is, umm...

[a NAZI]
It is separatism, provincialism,

[NAZI 2]
Obstructionism, masochism,

[NAZI 3]
Communism, Semitism

[ALL AUSTRO-NAZIS]
Destructionism and fatalism in their very essence

[ARTHUR]
But as Anschluss is prime request,
War's not in our best interest
And it can never truly be
Above second priority
So on this day peace is affirmed
For Austria (as our land is termed)

[a NAZI]
...for now

[WILHELM]
Yes, let us agree this truth is prime:
There shall be peace throughout our time!

[ALL]
Disarm! Peace in our time
What sort of peace? A winner's peace!
Disarm! There'll be peace in our--AHHHH!!!!

[singing breaks off into screams as an Allied bomber flies by and unloads its cargo]



NOTE: Ten days after my people decide to hold a peace demonstration. A good thing I thought guarding the French border was more important than discouraging partisans...

Pacer and Earth's Savior: I'm almost regretting pounding Italy as flat as I did; I miss having a friendly navy to fight the Brits in the Mediterranean and a slight chance of holding out in Africa.

(Still, it was really fun to destroy all of their armies in that first war. And pillage their land in the second one. My men were screaming "Roma delenda est!" Oh, man. Yeah, definately an "almost" regret.)

The point is I *need* the Hungarians right now! Viva exploits!

Snake IV: Who's next to fall? Well, not ME! Sure, I just now finished researching the technology for the most primitive form of submarine... sure, my fleet consists of two transports and a handful of convoys... sure, I only have two divisions in North Afrika (on the east and west border, respectively)... sure, it's going to be a little bit longer before I can build armies or subs because I have a little more dissent to knock down... sure, the Ottoman Empire hasn't gotten around to building a single division... sure, Germany hasn't had the event boosts of Anschluss or Treaty of Munich... sure, that "Great Peace Demonstration" was a random kick in my administrative shin...

Now, what were we talking about again?

EDIT: I've swapped Wilhelm pictures on the first and previous update, only because this picture actually has Wilhelm publically speaking.

Snake IV said:

I would concider it time to update this ARR now.

Click to expand...

Whoops. Yeah, I got so tangled in the Vatican stuff, that I've neglected my AARs...

thats not kurt speaking publicly, thats Dolfuss arisen from the grave!

Click to expand...

What?! The caption said it was Kurt! They lied to me?

Or are you talking about the content of the "speech"?

Are you certain?

The image says, "dollfuss-129n.gif", but hold your mouse over it. Holding my mouse there, the text "Schuschnigg speech 1934" comes up; this is how I found the picure by doing a google image search for "Schuschnigg".

Also, just compare that picture to the others on the page. Most of these pictures are of Dolfuß, but a few are of Schuschnigg (most notably number "one" at the top, which depicts the propaganda poster used in-game). Compare the speechgiver in 17 to the one above it, 14. Then look at the one in 21.

Dolfuß has a cute little puppy dog face, not that glasses thing going on. I suspect it is Kurt.

I'll have an update at least by tomorrow night for both of my AARs. Sorry for the long delay!