V2 Beta AAR: Einigkeit und Recht

GENERAL STRATEGIC SITUATION


Prussia in 1836 was the dominant German state. Nearly all of northern Germany was in the Sphere of Influence of Prussia, and Prussia holds some land even south in Wurttemburg. There were three notable exceptions to the northen Germany hegemony: Saxony was in the SoI of Austria, Hannover in the SoI of Great Britain, and Holstein was a satellite-state of Denmark. If those three would be in the Prussian Sphear of Influence, a true united Northern German federation would be possible to be formed.

Prussia was an emerging industrial might, with a few factories already existing. While being dwarfed to Great Britain in everything, Prussia was amongst the top three producers of practically any goods; this gave a very nice boost to the domestic trade, and Prussia also exported goods much more than imported.

Prussia was in the unique situation of having four other major powers well within of her capital. The armed force being relatively small, but as the land area of Prussia also were relatively small, Prussia could bring decisive numbers to important battles if she just could employ good leaders to command her armies.



CULTURE AND SCIENCE

The idea of railroads floated around. Prussian scientist and engineers were urged to research and experiment the thought of railroad. Once the ideas had been tested out, a wave of enthuaism spread all over the nation. The ease of movement with the railroads was obvious to all, and the opportunities the railsystem could provide made many new ideas blossom.


Medicine was one of the main focus points in research together with the railroad systems. Prussian breakthroughs in medicine had major impact on all levels of the society. Originally many of the inventions were for the use of the Army, but the innovations were rapidly also utilised for the general population. When it was understood Cholera spreads because of bad sanitation, the outbreaks of the disease saw a massive reduction; this saved especiall many infants, and the population growth in Prussia reached all new levels.



Just as everywhere, in Germany too the rise of nationalim began. A peaceful Mozart festifal in Frankfurt turned into wide-scale protests for a German unification. The pan-german movement sparked to life, to witch the very popular Deutshlandlied provided more fuel. "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" could be heard all over Germany as people sang the Deutschlandlied.


Many liberals felt the winds of change when the old king Friedrich Wilhelm III died. It was generally felt Friedrich Wilhelm III had been the main reason Prussia had remained so conservative.




POLITICS


Prussia was an absolute monarchy, with the upper house being controlled by conservatives. Still, the population occasionally liked to bring up to discussion the humbug ideas of liberalism, or right to vote, or even the so called "right" to freedom of speech. As such Prussia was very stabile politically though and there's no need for any reforms, but the population must be steered firmly but politely to stay on the correct path.

The pan-german movement caused some revolts in the minor german states. Prussian forces intervened to remove the rebels from the lands allied with Prussia, as they seemed to have difficulties at dealing with the rabble.



ECONOMY


The three most important export goods from Prussia during this period was coal, cattle and (quite suprisingly) fruit. Apparently the global fruit markets had collapsed in mid 1830's, and people all over the globe were paying gold to get Prussian apples.

Private investors were interested in setting up new factories. The state influence to factories was limited to supporting an Explosives factory in Breslau, because it was seen as a very crucial strategic factory even though during peace time there wasn't that much request for explosives.


Once the tests with railroads had become more stabile in summer of 1837, practically all of Prussia saw private railroad networks being set up to provide transportation to and from the factories. The railroads began to be in operating condition during summer of 1839.




MILITARY

The Prussian army was re-organised in the early months of 1836. The 51 brigades strong army (50 brigades at start, plus one recruited artillery brigade) was organised into four 10 brigade armies (1st Army of West (in Cologne), North (in Stettin), East (in Konigsburg), and Silesia (in Breslau)), an independent ten brigades strong Cavalry Guards (in Berlin) and the independent one brigade strong Corps of Wurtemburg (in Sigmaringen). During war a general mobilisation would take place, and the mobilised units would form the Home Guard. The Home Guard would either be used as a support army for the field armies, or as independent brigades to take control of hostile provinces.

A vigorous officer training program was begun, but sadly the first officers to be employed left much to be desired. Later on good commanders became available too, and they would prove to be crucial later on.

The Prussian fleet in Danzig consisting of three transport Clippers was decided to need a bit more strength. A frigate was ordered for the fleet, and later on a Man'o'war. Prussia wouldn't be a major naval power even with these, but it was hoped it would be strong enough to prevent sneaky invasion attempts in the Baltic, while also providing Prussia some ability for minor amphibious operations.



DIPLOMACY

Initial diplomacy was focused on the minor states in Germany. The Austrian threat was very real, and their demands on Silesia very vocal. Thus it was deemed important to make sure as many of the German minors as possible would be allied wthat the other minor states would be allied with, starting with Hamburg and Lubeck (who would be able to send troops under an eventual war with Austria, yet be safely behind the lands of Prussia).


However, the more burning situation was the Holstein issue. In October 1837 Prussia declared on Denmark with the claims of getting Schleswig to Prussia and Denmark releasing its control over Holstein. Danish positions were soon overrun, but Denmark insisted on suggesting White Peace. In October 1838, when Prussian troops were marching on to Copenhagen after the Prussian fleet had utterly destroyed the Danish fleet outside Copenhagen, Denmark gave in to the demands.

Victoria was crowned the Queen of Great Britain on July 1st 1840. This ended the personal union between Great Britain and Hannover, which meant that Hannover was now up for a diplomatic grab from Prussia. Cleverly Prussia had been building diplomatic connections with Hannover for the past years, and Hannover was soon to be in the SoI of Prussia.

Now only Saxony remained to be joined into the Prussian SoI so that the North German Federation could be united. Austria was not only husbanding Saxony with a firm hand (disrupting all Prussian diplomatic actions in Saxony), but also had vocal claims on Silesia. The relations between Prussia and Austria got even more tense.



DE-BRIEF

Prussia in 1841 is a rising industrial power. Great Britain is in a league of their own, but Prussian industrial power is very comparable with the other Major Powers. The army is the smallest of the other great powers, and the fleet is practically non-existant. Still, with Denmark subdued and Hannover free from British control, things certainly are looking good for Prussia.

GENERAL STRATEGIC SITUATION

In 1841 Prussia and Austria seemed to be ready to lock horns and see how is the biggest bully in the neighbourhood. Austria had for years kept up the matter with Silesia, but now Prussia put in their claims for Saxony.

Great Britain was in a league of its own, being the dominant economic powerhouse in the world and expanding rapidly in Asia and Africa. Russia was struggling in its war against China, while France and Ottomans competed over North Africa. Spain was focusing on becoming an industrial and economic powerhouse. In America USA was the clear dominant power, but their influence outside America was still minimal.


POLITICS

Spring of Nations! In Prussia the first sign of the days to come was the Chartist rally, but things were rather peaceful in Prussia yet for some years. Then, like an un-stoppable storm the liberal uprisings spread across Europe in 1844.


Like a wildfire the revolution spread across Europe. In Prussia there wasn't open rebellion at first, but it was just a matter of time before all hell would break loose also in Prussia. First the danes in Schleswig began rioting, then the poles in Breslau, then even germans joined the riots. The army was sent in, and the rebellers crushed where ever they were seen. Rioters and rebellers were also hunted in the lands of Prussian allies. Finally, in spring of 1846 the burning madness seemed to have been contained. Peace and order was restored.


Jews had lived in Prussia for ages. They were taxed more heavily than christians, but were not regarded as equal citizens with christians, and as such did not have many of the obligations christian Prussians had. This changed in 1846 as a law was enacted which made jews citizens with equal duties as all other citizens.


In 1850 the anarcho-liberal movement saw its birth in Sweden. Soon the ideology spread all over the world, even to Prussia. Initially very few of Prussians supported the ideology, but the anarcho-liberal movement was never the less followed suspiciously by the more conservative population.




CULTURE AND SCIENCE

The new Zoo of Berlin was the pride of all Germans. All Germans agreed that while London and Antwerp had already zoos, the Berlin Zoo was the greatest of the three.



Both Prussian scientists and artists caused several unforgettably glorious moments to Prussia. Neptune was discovered by Johann Gottlieb Galle (in game effect: +5.00 prestige), while Otto Nicolai's comedic opera "The Merry Wives of Windsor" was the opera of the decade (in game effect: +3.24 prestige).



ECONOMY


Prussian economy focused on improving the railroad network. New mining methods and refinery methods saw a healthy increase in iron and steel producing, as well as in lumber and wood industry. Prussia sorely lacked some rare raw-materials, such as sulphur, which meant the economic growth wasn't as fast as it could have been undere ideal conditions.

In 1842 Prussia abolished all income taxes to improve private investements. It was made clear however that in the future, when tax-collecting methods would become more efficient, Prussia would eventually return to a tax-based system. State income needs were fulfilled by the 15% tariff on imported goods (also to improve local investements; it was believed tariffs on imported goods would see private money being invested into factories providing such goods).



MILITARY

After the war with Denmark the Prussian army was reorganised. The Wurttemburg Corps was re-positioned to Schleswig, renamed Holstein Corps and increased to four brigades (three infantry and one artillery brigade). The Cavalry Guard had four dragoon brigades and six cavalry brigades. Each of the four armies had one cavalry brigade, one engineer brigade, two artillery brigades and six infantry brigades. The fleet had five ships, one man'o'war, one frigate and three clippers.

While there were many enthuaistic officers in the Prussian army, it proved to be somewhatdifficult to get the truly all-round talented commanders for the armies. Many officers from the aristocratic families tended to believe it is more important what family one is from rather than how talented leaders they are. Eventually good leaders were found for all armies.


The attack on Austria was well planned in the Prussian high command. As both Baden and Bavaria allowed Prussian troops to move through their lands, it was decided a crushing blow would be first dealt to Wurttemburg and Saxony, and only after that would the armies press on towards Vienna.




DIPLOMACY

The Prussian plans for an attack on Austria had been thwarted by the madness of the liberal uprisings. However, as soon as order had been restored, the Prussian armies were moved into attack positions. In September 1846 Prussia declared war on Austria with claims of Saxony to Prussian SoI and Austria to admit Prussian hegemony in Germany.

The war went as planned, Austria had not come out of the Springtime of Nations in as good shape as Prussia. Austria was still plagued by rebellions. Also, only Wurttemburg and Saxony joined Austria in the war, while Prussia called in all her allies (except Bavaria, as the Bavarians were not too keen to join the war, and it was decided it is better to not call them so as to be certain they stayed in the alliance).


The fate of Austria was not that great. Once the leading nation in the world, it was plummeted to position 14 after the war, barely being recognised as a secondrate power. The Austrian place as a Major power was taken by Netherlands.

As Hannover had joined the Prussian SoI during the war, only Holstein remained to be added. Prussian diplomats were eagerly trying to convince Holstein to join the SoI, and finally in 1852 Holstein agreed to join their German brothers.

On March 22nd 1852 the North German Federation was formed. On the same day the work on Kiel Canal was begun, which would make it impossible for Sweden or Denmark to try prevent the German fleet from moving at will between the Baltic and North Sea.





DE-BRIEF

Prussia has ceased to exist as a nation, but North German Federation in all essence is the continuation of Prussia. Over 70% of the population and land-area of NGC is from former Prussia. NGC is ruled by Prussian king, and the capital is in Berlin. Some 90% of the factories of NGF is in former Prussia (who should now be able to get rid of the lack of workforce, as there are nealry 3000 unemployed craftsmen in the NGC areas outside former Prussia.

GENERAL STRATEGIC SITUATION

Austria was utterly defeated, and North German Confederation was the sole major power in central Europe. NGF industry however was lacking rawmaterials, especially those available only from colonies. Also the pan-german movement caused a lot pressure to unite all german states under one flag.


POLITICS

Militant liberal movements caused uproar more and more often. Small local rebellions popped up, but they all were smashed. NGF continued on its conservative policy, and no reforms of any kinds were enacted.

Karl Marx published The Communist Manifesto in 1860. Socialists gained even support in the upper house, at the cost of the anarcho-liberals.




CULTURE AND SCIENCE

NGF scientist and engineers were busy inventing and testing out new methods to make factories more and more effective. Military technology was also promoted and some new taxing systems developed, but cultural advancements were not that common during this perioud.



ECONOMY


The administration level in NGF and especially the new colony was one of the main concerns. NGF bureucrats were hired in increasing numbers, and as administration levels increased, NGF was also slowly reverting back to a taxation based state-income. By 1864 some 60% of state income came from tariffs, 40% from taxes.



DIPLOMACY AND MILITARY


One of the main concerns in NGF was the total lack of colonies, and the goods available from colonies (mainly coffee and sulphur were of interest). On the other hand, Netherlands had got rather uppity when she gained Major Power status.

Thus in April 1852 Prussia declared war on Netherlands with the excuse of getting southern Borneo from Netherlands. Netherlands was allied with Russia and Spain (and the dutch puppet-state of Luxemburg), and they all answered the call to allies. However, all of Netherlands was overrun by the end of July, and peace was agreed on.

After the war with the Netherlands, the Prussian fleet was sent to East Indies. War was declared on Brunei in September, and Brunei was annexed in December 1852. All of Borneo was now german, except the un-colonised and inhospitable inner parts of the island.


After the annexation of Borneo the military was reorganised. The former Holstein Corps was fleshed out to a full army and named Army of Holstein, the Army of West renamed Army of Southwest, the Army of North renamed Army of Pommern, a new Army (Army of Northwest) was raised, and two Corps to Borneo (each with one german brigade and two colonial brigades). In addition mobilisation would provide in all some 110 brigades


Prussian explorers searching for the source of Nile had found the Nairobi area to be rich in resources and reasonably pleasent area to live in, and efforts were begun to claim this area for NGF. War on Oman was declared in July 1860 with the aim of adding Mogadishu on the east coast of Africa to Prussia. Oman was unable to set up even a token resistance, and peace was signed in November 1860.

NGF began building new naval bases in Mogadishu and on Borneo, so that in the future colonies could be established and supported from these bases. Mogadishu would be an excellent base from which to stage colonial projects deeper into Africa, while Borneo could act as the base for possible actions in the East Indies.



DE-BRIEF

With Elsass in NGF control and Wurttemburg being in NGF SoI, only Baden and Bavaria remain to be attained so that Germany could be formed.

GENERAL STRATEGIC SITUATION

The fast rise of Austria was nothing short of a miracle. At the end of 1860 they declared war on Switzerland, and did seem to be on their way to be a very strong power in Europe again.


POLITICS

Socialists were gaining support in NGF fast. Already by 1864 the upper house of NGF saw 42% supporting conservatives, 2% reactionaries, 48% supporting liberals and 8% supporting socialists. As liberals and socialists could not agree on co-operation, the conservative policy did continue.

In 1867 Liberal support in the upper house climbed over 50%. A legislation allowing the rich to vote was passed in February. In March it was decided NGF couldn't be described anymore as an absolute monarchy because of this, and the governmenet type was changed to Prussian constitutionalism.



ECONOMY


The administration level was continued to be pushed up. More bureucrats were hired, especially in the colonies. Early in 1868 the colonies on Borneo were granted statehood. This caused a wave of private investments on Borneo, as the capitalists had been reluctant to invest into factories on a far away colony. However, a german state on Borneo was seen as a much more secure opportunity, especially as the state had already built some railroads on the island. A myriad of new projects began on Borneo as the island began its steps towards industrialisation.



DIPLOMACY AND MILITARY



Austria gained suprisingly fast their lost Major Power status, and they crushed Switzerland in a quick war. France and Austria allied, and began together a diplomatic campaign against the still independents south-german states. Not only that, but Austria revoiced her claim on Silesia, while France made it clear river Rhein is their natural eastern border; the French comments especially made it obvious Austria and France where about to crush NGF between them.


NGF would not be able to stand against France and Austria if they attacked together, as they both had more soldiers at use than NGF. Thus a pre-emptive strike would be needed. As France had just gone through a long and bloody war with Spain, it was deemed France was the weaker one of the two. Belgium was granting NGF free passage through her lands, and thus it was decided a flank attack through Belgium to Paris would be what was needed. It was hoped the defenses elsewhere would hold long enough that the French would crumble at the loss of their capital. It was assumed the superior elan and organisation of NGF troops would simply be on a whole other level than what Austrian or French troops would be able to show.


War on France was declared in February 1864. The excuse for war was the control of Elsass-Lothringen, where the French governement had been opressing the German population. Not suprisingly Austria did answer the call of France.

In France everything went as planned, Paris was taken in May, although France was still fighting in south France to where forces from Africa landed from ships. In July NGF had just some 30 brigades in France, all others were force marching eastwards as fast as they could.

Austria namely was far from a pushover. What did suprise the NGF high-command was just how many men Austria was able to mobilise. In April Austria sent in a 20.000 man strong army to Liegnitz in Silesia. The 30.000 men strong Army of Silesia moved in to remove them. However, this proved to be a clever Austrian trap, as some 130.000 Austrian troops moved in to help the battle the next days.

Mobilised NGF forces finishing their training were marching to the aid of the hard-pressed Army of Silesia. More and more troops poured into Liegnitz as if it was somesort of a Black Hole sucking in everything. The battles in Liegnitz raged through all of summer. In August German forces arriving from France were able to punch through the Austrian lines in Bohemia, while the Cavalry Guard broke through the Austrian lines in eastern Silesia. Austria was unable to properly react to this double pincer move as most of their troops were tied in Liegnitz. Finally, out of supplies and their retreat route cut the Austrian forces broke, breaking through to Breslau in a wild rout.


The rout ended outside Breslau were the Cavalry Guard cathced up the routed Austrians. On September 7th the massive Austrian army surrendered. On September 9th NGF recieved the message from France they were willing to sign peace.

The war was over, Elsass returned to the righful ownership of Germans.


After the war NGF was totally exhausted. The losses during the war had been extensive. But the Germans had shown what they can do united.

The idea of a unified Germany became more and more widespread. In 1868 the governmenet of Luxemburg collapsed, and a pan-german parliament was called together. German speaking people from all over of Europe arrived, and it was agreed a unified Germany would be given birth!


In NGF the demands of the liberals at first seemed too harsh, but the urge for a united Germany was overwhelming. In the end Luxemburg (in the SoI of Netherlands), Bavaria (in the SoI of Austria) and Austria (a major power) did not join the united Germany, but alll other German states did so.

Germany had seen its birth!

DE-BRIEF

Germany is formed, but without Bavaria the work is not quite complete. Bavaria has to be joined to the united Germany, as justice would demand it.

GENERAL STRATEGIC SITUATION

Germany had united, but one crucial part remained yet outside Germany. Bavaria had refused to join the German Empire, and would have to be forcifully added to the unity of all germans.



DIPLOMACY AND MILITARY


Germany focused on getting her military might together. Austria was protecting Bavaria, and Austria was allied with Great Britain and Russia. Declaring war on Bavaria would most likely see three major powers join war against Germany. Plans were made accordingly.

20 artillery brigades were raised to give the mobilised troops some firepower. The plan was that each mobilised army would have 1 regular artillery brigade and 9 mobilised infantry brigades. Thus Germany would have a wartime force of 6 regular armies and the cavarly guard (plus the the colonial troops) and 20 mobilised armies. The remaining ~30 mobilised infantry would be used as reinforcements and/or take over control of conquered lands, as need be.

Then Austria made a grave strategic mistake. In July 1869 Austria declared war on Switzerland. Austria had a casus belli on Switzerland, and was attempting to finish off Switzerland of which she had taken the eastern half a few years earlier in a quick and easy war. Suprisingly though France rushed to the help of Switzerland, while Great Britain and Russia ignored the Austrian call to allies. What was even more suprising was that Bavaria ignored the Austrian call too.


Not only did this mean Austria was fighting alone against France, Switzerland and the Papcy (who was an ally of France), thus not only fighting in the Alps but also on two fronts in Italy, but more importantly Bavaria was not protected by Austria at the moment.

German troops moved into positions on the Bavarian border. No mobilisation was called for, just the regular German troops moved into position (except the 20 artillery brigades "earmarked" for the mobilised armies, who stayed back in Berlin with some garrison infantry (if artillery gets attacked alone (say by a random revolt, for example) they immediatly surrender). In October war on Bavaria was declared, and the bavarian allies (Estonia, Two Sicilies and Sweden) ignored her call to allies.


After a quick campaign Bavaria capitulated in March 1870. Bavaria was annexed, Germany was united.




DE-BRIEF

Germany was formed and united. Her position in Central Europe was without comparison. Her colonial adventures about to truly begin. Nothing would be able to stand in the way of Germany now!