Portugal's Second Coming

Chapter IV
A New, New World

Portugal was the eighth most powerful and influential nation in the world, but it's position there was becoming more and more uncertain. Smaller nations rise up to the point where they can threaten Portugal much more frequently than anyone would like. Many would rather see a resurgence of Spain and viewed Portugal's ascension as an unnatural byproduct of an accident of circumstance. Nevertheless Portugal refused to give in to such jargon and plotted their own rise to power, with Luis was the one leading the way.



Dom Luis, King of Portugal and the Algarves, was in many ways the exact same as Portugal. Luis was never meant to be King. That was something his elder brother was bred and taught to be since birth. Luis was a man much more interested in the mysteries of life and the world than he ever could be with the dreary politics that are keeping Portugal afloat among the world powers. This was not necessary a bad thing as while Luis had no love for politics, he was more than interested in projecting the will of Portugal across the world. Over the past centuries many of the world's mysteries have been unlocked, but now there was something new and dangerous to explore and exploit. That would be the great continent of Africa.



Portugal had long since had a presence on the continent in it's colonies of Angora, Guinea, and Mozambique, along with it's recently acquired protectorate of Sokoto. Of all the Great Nations, Portugal had laid it's claim to the most of the lands inside the continent. Inside the early months of Dom Luis's rein, a number of expeditions set out to discover the secrets of the continent, many of them funded by the Portuguese imperial coffers. Among which was the ever important expedition to discover the source of the Nile river. The Nile river had long since been a mystery to the civilized world, being the only known river to actually flow north, unlocking the reason to this would be a great boon to not only Portugal but to the world.

The first two expeditions failed to secure any results. While one may wonder how hard it may be to simply follow a river to it's source, there are apparently many hundreds of small rivers that web into the Nile and which one that is the source is subject to much debate, argument, and mystery. Nevertheless another expedition set out with a full entourage of twelve Portuguese and several native guides to unlock the Nile's secrets. To the surprise of all, the expedition returned after just four months of traveling with the sound of success sticking to their exhalations. News of this discovery spread throughout the civilized world and many explorers came to envy Portugal's ever increasing support of expeditions into Africa when compared to their own nation's minor support in comparison.



Besides the Nile the continent of Africa contained many secrets, among them would be that surrounding the nation of Egypt. It's ancient past holds many secrets and none of the population can remember anything about them. Many centuries of military conquests and regime changes has, from the perspective of many Europeans, dumbed down the population. They were a proud people, who built monuments higher than any building, structures sturdier than anything ever made before. Unlocking the secrets of ancient Egypt was among the many goals of Portugal. There were over two dozen different expeditions going on at any one time inside the nation attempting to uncover a new mystery. Unlock some strange new fact. Portugal met with limited success, until, perhaps, one of the most spectacular accidents to occurred.

An expedition by a man named Phillipe Maria set out from Cairo searching the desert sands looking for some clue to "The lost pyramid" or so it was called by the local populous. Maria got separated from his group following a run in with raiders. Left with no water and no supplies to speak of Maria wandered the desert looking for someone, anyone, to help. In his dehydrated state he came across a small opening inside a solid rock face. There he collapsed, but was helped by the local populous who discovered him near death. Immediately upon regaining consciousness Maria set out once again to discover what he saw before he nearly died, coming across a great dune of sand with a small piece of exposed Rock sticking out of one side. Maria began removing the sand and soon a solid rock face began to get exposed as the desert sands were slowly peeled back. In one week fully removed the sand exposing an entrance that was blocked off, there he immediately began to work on uncovering the way to get inside the structure calling it the most important thing this side of the Great Pyramid of Giza. After several weeks of work Maria finally entered the structure and news of this event spread like wild fire throughout the world. Portugal had financed the expedition and it became apparent that Portugal was heading up in the world.



Scientific discovery was not the only thing Africa had to offer the Portuguese. Luis was eagerly beginning to expand his already extensive overseas possessions inside the continent. Many dozens of expeditions went deep within the African continent claiming great swaths of land in name of the Portuguese King and Portugal, offering them money and loans in return to people who often had no idea what to do with such items. The grab for Africa was well under way.


A Native Guide

Portugal had great ambitions inside the continent and by the turn of the decade much of the southern continent was within Portuguese hands, but things were changing. Nations that paid no attention to the great and vast continent of Africa now began to slowly devise plans for colonial conquest. Prussians, Spaniards, French, and British nations began to fight one another for land in the vastness of Africa. Portugal was focusing, busily, on securing the western half of the continent and linking all their colonial possessions, but once the other nations entered the game their resources dwarfed Portugal's. Luis was left with little to do except expedite the plans and quickly claim great lengths of land.

In 1886 Portugal attended the London conference, where Luis met with his aunt, Victoria, her Prime Minister, and several other prominent heads of state. There many of the defining borders were created with other regions left undefined for other nations to make their claims. Luis had attempted to lay claim to most of the continent south of Egypt, but was blocked by the other leaders stating it would give Portugal far too much power. Luis was reported to laugh and scoff off the argument by claiming that there are less than 27,000 Portuguese troops governing an area three times the size of France which has armies rumored in the hundreds of thousands with just half the territory. Still, Luis conceded to some requirements leaving much of the land in East Africa as undefined territory which can be claimed by whoever can establish control first. Prussia and France were fierce competitors for north Africa and Spain, while slightly interested in the African continent, was far more interested in establishing their rule throughout the middle east. Russia was invited to the conference but they claimed they had desires for Persia, not Africa.

Sardinia-Piedmont had attempted to gain several territories, but was blocked on several occasions by both France and Great Britain. Eventually their delegation left the conference when no progress could be made, but for the most part their territories inside Morocco were confirmed, more or less. The Netherlands had attempted to gain entry into the conference, but was rebuked after their recent war with Great Britain. The London Conference was a conference for friendly nations only. No action was taken against their territories, however. Austria had no desires to move in on Africa, for some reason they had become a stable power eager to form alliances with the other powers, but refusing to actually go to war with anyone. The Ottomans and Egypt were invited to the conference for little more than ceremony, neither would be increasing their territories nor removing their territories. They were long enough established to not be bothered, and no nation cared to have any wishes on their lands. However, the Ottomans had consistently attacked Egypt over the past half century and nearly all the great powers had intervened in their wars leaving the Ottoman Empire beaten. Both countries are effectively relegated to irrelevance.

Spain was of particular note to the conference, the monarchists had entered the conference with the prospect of increasing their lands there. They had captured some territories from the Sultanate of Oman and Morocco firmly establishing their presence on the continent, but they were far more interested in the Middle East, as already stated, but there was something else that was interesting. During the conference a great rebellion occurred inside continental Spain, the monarchists fled to Morocco while their capital fell to the rebels.



The Spaniards fought bravely, but in the end there was little they could do. The Entire country was broken in a maelstrom of death, chaos, and revolution. In the end there was little that could be done. A Portuguese expedition set out to relieve Madrid, but they were bogged down fighting Spanish troops, before they could make it to Madrid and restore the monarchy the worst thing that could have happened, happened. Total regicide of the Imperial family, thousands executed in bloody revolution in the name of founding a republic. The monarchists who had fled attempted to rally around a distant relative, but they were quickly overcame and a new Spain formed from the chaos.




Portugal's own anarchists began contemplating total regicide and soon organized their own revolt to destroy the monarchy.



But the rebellion was short lived, and pitifully orchestrated. It did not take long for Luis to organize an army to fire down upon the rebels. While Portugal and it's closer colonies rebelled, much of Africa remained loyal and it's troop base quickly secured the continent for the monarchists. Luis quickly routed out all rebels and massacred them. There would be no mercy to those that would commit high treason. The entire rebellion had taken only six months to quell, and the only territory that succumbed was the distant island of Saint Thomas. The conference in London was barely interrupted by the affair, Spain's government changed hands and they began their conquest of Nedj. It was if no blood was spilled at all. The London conference left much of the continent unsettled and many disputes still intact, but it had given us a picture of the continent.




The Congo, however, organized a rebellion. Long after the nation partially colonized by Portugal the nation formed a rudimentary government under a Prussian constitution. it appeared out of nowhere, and despite it's eager pleas to avoid war with Portugal, war was declared immediately following the conference. The Congolese army was no match for the Portuguese military. But there was the long and tedious problem of conquering the jungles with only three detachments of soldiers. Nevertheless the Congo was subdued, stripping it down to it's capital and surrounding territories only to annex it five years later. The Congo never should have declared independence.



Over the course of the next few decades the world began to change, the Netherlands joined the ranks of the great powers after the fall of the Ottomans. Securing their sphere in the form of the republican dictatorship inside Spain, who for all intents and purposes had been abandoned by Portugal. China has become a civilized nation. It currently ranks number 9 on the list of powers. Lucca is a communist dictatorship... so far it's the only one. Perhaps most interesting is the final piece of Africa being claimed in the name of Portugal in 1912 setting off roaring crowds in Lisbon. Portugal controls more land than any other nation in the world, except Great Britain. Now Portugal is at the passing of the old age and at the beginning of the new. So many more challenges lay ahead of Portugal and there remains so little time. Luis had brought this nation to it's height in terms of size. Now it's time to industrialize and with that comes even greater challenges.

Probably way too many pictures... (14) even though I had wanted more, much more.

Alexspeed said:

Thank you for cour Chapter 4!
Only one more and you are set for the contest,
hope you can bring it before the contest ends

Your edit request for chapter 1-3 to add chapter titles is granted.

The images in chapter 4 are still okay, but the text is more than 3000 words,
thats also over the limit that is specified in the contest guidelines.
Please see if you can shorten it a bit, maybe put some of the text in your chapter 5?
Edit for that is also okay.

Well done, keep up the good work

Click to expand...

I could easily just chop chapter four in half for two parts, but I think I can come up with an original chapter before the fifteenth rolls around. Thank you for allowing the titles and I apologize for the word count. I was having so much fun writing it I didn't even think that it would be a word above 2000, let alone 3000. I'll find something to cut out, it's only 300 words over.

And despite all that, the US were able to take down Mexico, and Papua New Guinea...

I'm impressed with your dominance of Continental Africa, but who owned the Congo before you?

Click to expand...

The strange thing is, I did, or rather the Bas Congo region. Without so much as a single rebellion it just declared independence so I just conquered them. It saved me some time colonizing.

Alexspeed said:

Well actually its 1300 words over (i wouldnt have complained if it would have been just 300 )

I wasnt aware there was a congo state in the game that could declare independence, till now. Very interresting!

Click to expand...

Aye, well I guess I can save the GP overview for another chapter then. At least this way I won't be removing anything permanently. Oh well

Chapter V
Revolution and Counter-Revolution

Luis was more than happy to lead the nation of Portugal to even greater heights. Following the colonization of Africa Luis began setting up institutions to allow those colonies to become fully functioning states of the Portuguese Empire, which was now the third largest empire in the world. There were problems with the new colonies, however. Before, when a territory entered into the control of the Portuguese Empire it was heavily conservative, much like Portugal itself, but much of East Africa was not like this. As new colonies began to become recognized they had sizable communist and Fascist influences dominating them, this lead to a fear of sorts that began to slowly take hold in Lisbon. A fear that communism was taking over Africa. Given the option to choose between Fascism and Communism, the Portuguese Elite favored Fascism, which was much more of an extreme approach to already conservative nationalist and reactionary values. Communism was worse even than the Anarchists, them being people who wished to tear down the government and all the classes in favor of establishing some sort of Utopian society. The very idea was revolting to much of the middle class and all of the upper class.

The scare would only be exacerbated when news of smaller nations succumbing to revolutions at the hand of Communists. Lucca, Krakow, and many other minor nations fell to the prowess of the communists. While this was of little concern to much larger nations, it was unsettling to many who knew of communists within the government. At any one time inside Portugal there was well over 400,000 communists ready to revolt, over twice the size of the standing army. It was around this time when Austria and Italy had a small, petty little war over Tuscany. Austria won and earned the Island of Sardinia as it's reward. Italy, immediately following it's defeat, went to war with Lucca. This was a move praised my many of the conservative governments in Europe who longed to see one of these minor nations defeated. Nevertheless, this motivated the Kingdom of Two Sicilies to form an alliance with Portugal to ward off any further invasion attempts. Two Sicilies, however, overestimated Italy's intelligence. War was declared against the southern Italian nation and the nation appealed to Portugal, and while all of the Two Sicilies allies betrayed them, Portugal stayed firm.

The Invasion of Italy began immediately by funneling troops into the Kingdom of Italy, while blockading all their ports. Numerous battles were fought on and off between the Italians and the Portuguese troops, given the heavily fortified positions that the Italians had, it proved very hard to capture territories from them, despite Portugal's superior weaponry. The overall war lasted for six months before a mainly cavalry battle ensued outside of Genoa, there Alfonso Saldutti defeated Giuseppe crushing the North Italian cavalry forces.



The rest of the battles would be fought between standing armies, normally with the Portuguese outnumbered 2:1. Nevertheless victory was attained in nearly every battle. Eventually after wearing the Italian armies down to the point where they simply refused to fight any more, they agreed to cede Nice, not to Portugal, but to the Two Sicilies. All was well, for a time. When some sense of normality returned to Italy something strange happened, a full scale Communist revolt occurred, not in Italy, but in the Two Sicilies. Their King, Francis III of the house of Bourbon-Two Sicilies was killed within the first few days of the rebellion. Portugal was quick to organize a relief effort, but there was little they could do. Within months the entirety of the country was taken over by Communists and a new Dictatorship was formed there.



The Two Sicilies was no small nation, it had vast armies and resources at it's disposal. It had just won a successful war and was in the midst of a small economic boom. The revolt had taken the government completely by surprise, and this shocked the world. Italy had traded a minor city for perhaps the most powerful Italian nation. This would not be welcomed by the world, and war was declared by perhaps the most unlikely of challengers. The Papacy declared full scale war upon the Communist nation, funneling the vast resources the Papacy could offer overrunning the nation within a matter of weeks. The Nation was stripped down to it's capital in Naples ceding both the Island of Sicily and the Eastern half of their lands on the Peninsula. The Papacy does not take kindly to a revolt threatening to do away with religion and everything it stands for. The Pope was not alone in this attack, he was supported by the nations of Austria, France, Portugal, and Bavaria.


The Pope

While Communism had taken a serious blow in Italy, new revolts were occurring throughout Europe. Following the collapse of the Netherlands and their fall from the Great Power ranks, the nation of Spain was left without a protector. Within days the nation's economy began to stagnate and the Republican Dictatorship began looking for solutions, one of his "solutions" was to raise taxes on those currently receiving none of their basic requirements for life. Communism began to take hold within the nation and suddenly a full scale revolt occurred two months after the Two Sicilies collapsed. The revolt was massive and many of the army began defecting to the communists, the nation was desperate and looked to an old friend for help.

Luis was by now a relatively old man, this being well into the fourth decade of his reign and given the total destruction of the Spanish royal family, he was also the next in line to "succeed" the Spanish throne. Luis had no desire for this, his father had passed over the opportunity for the throne, but now there was very few people left of close relations to the diseased family. Luis had no real interest in Spain, why would he? A unstable nation with virtually no industrial and military might that had forsaken it's own crown through means of massacre. It would probably be a surprise when Luis found out that the Spanish wanted to be back in Portugal's protection. Luis at first was eager to rebuke them and send them back to Madrid to watch their nation collapse around them, but when news of the massive communist revolt occurring just across his border fully sunk in Luis found he had little choice but to accept the Spanish back into his protection. Military access was granted and the Portuguese troops marched in, relieving the capital from the rebels and clearing a fairly large amount of the countryside of the rebels.

With much of the world already done, the Republicans began to organize their own course of action against the Communists, putting them down one by one. The process was slow, but within several years the Communists and all the lands they captured were reclaimed in the name of the republicans. There was a lot of damage done in the conflicts though, many tens of thousands of lives were lost, many hundreds of thousands of dollars in industry were ruined, and many were without homes.


The Aftermath


The Communist Revolt (read starting in the upper left corner)

Spain was not the only nation to experience a communist revolt, the nation of Sweden was completely overwhelmed by their own communist rebels, forcing them to abandon their capital and head for higher, more defendable ground. A small Swedish group of irregulars relieved the capital after eleven months and fifteen days of Communist occupation. The Swedish King, Gustav V, began a massive campaign of eradicating all communists in his country. For Sweden to come so close to the brink was unacceptable to the Swedish crown.


Gustav V

Things would get even more unsettling as the Russian Empire began to implode under a enormous communist revolt. To the leaders of Europe there was now no one safe from them. Even as the very foundation of the Russian Empire shook, their Tsar stood wisely at the helm and began eradicating large armies of revolting soldiers and peasantry. Now the Russian Empire was by no means good to it's people, and it probably deserved some form of revolt, but the size took many by surprise. Over a million communists were stretching from sea to sea, taking over much of Iran, Central Asia, and Siberia.



Those who were captured were immediately killed, hundreds of thousands of Russians perished in the rebellion. The Tsar's army marched into Persia and into Siberia quelling the territories, executing hundreds and establishing some sort of order. Their actions drew admonishment from many of the more moderate leaders of Europe, including Luis who preferred destroying armies in revolt to starving people. Nevertheless the revolts were quelled and communism was defeated for the most part. Many Communists fled Russia and went to Krakow, Greece, Two Sicilies, and even some Indian Minors where they orchestrated revolts there as well. Communism had shook Europe to it's very core, now it was time for recovery and diplomacy to replace the old ways. Old mistakes would not be repeated.

Communitarian! said:

Revolts, bloodshed, and long marches... What has become of Europe? It seems that Portugal has become the Gendarme of Iberia, perhaps even of Europe. But Luis is getting older - I don't know if he's going to be able to keep such a watchful eye on the Communists - who could return, even when so thoroughly crushed - or the old world while maintaining such a large Empire; but he is canny and wise, so it does not seem to be over yet - the wave his hit the shore, but the tremors are still coming. Hold fast!

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Indeed

Thanks for reading!

Alexspeed

Great, action packed update! Well done, thank you for your 5th Chapter!

You now have enough for the contest, but i hope to read many updates more

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I plan on finishing this AAR before the end of the contest, the challenge is daunting, but it can be done.

Chapter VI
Asia's Big Three

Far from the eyes of Europe, things began to change within the very core of the Qing Dynasty. Decades of European influence has changed the temperament of the great nation. Firmly in the grasp of the British Sphere, the Qing Emperor wished for freedom and a return to the greatness that China once had. It began importing vast amounts of European advisers to help modernize it's military and it's infrastructure. It took several decades, but in 1912 China was ready to make an announcement to the world. It had become a western nation. Few nations believed the claim, and many began openly scoffing at the Chinese Emperor for making outrageous claims that he couldn't back up.

Shortly, however, things began to change. China began developing it's industry, modernizing it's military, and increasing it's prestige. There were still deniers in much of the European community. How could an Asian nation hope to compare to their betters? It only really sunk in when the Netherlands, the new Great Power on the block, was outshined by China. There was now an Asian nation in the ranks of the GPs. Instead of accepting this, there was still denial of course. The Netherlands was a new power, it only got there because of the fall of Mexico and the Great Power before that. There was no harm in a nation taking over a spot of #8 GP, they fall and rise so quickly it hardly even matters what happens. As China's industry began to grow, things started to get worse off for the Europeans.

Prussia was soon surpassed by the growing Giant, knocking the Prussians to #8. There was still denial, the great nations of Europe wouldn't accept a Chinese nation as being "better" than them in any way. Excuses were promptly made, the Prussians had just been defeated by a war with Austria, they were struggling, they took hits in terms of destruction of much of their standing armies and a loss of land, they were destined to fall from the ranks of the Great Powers. It was only a matter of time before China was back at #8 when an adequate replacement for Prussia revealed itself, or it reorganized itself into a functioning empire again.

But then Luis was eclipsed by the Qing Emperor. Then things began to get bad for the European powers. Luis was at the helm of Portugal, currently at it's height in the entirety of it's history. The only way it could be better would be if it Conquered Brazil. It was at this time that Luis formally accepted China into the ranks of the Great Powers, being the first and only one to do so for the next decade. Macao was the platform for diplomatic relations between the Chinese and the Portuguese, very quickly an alliance was forged and many began to question the validity of "The White Man's Burden." But political movements began to form tearing into to Portugal for refusing to increase its Industry. Calling the great Portuguese Empire backward, and incompetent. A thing of the past, Luis did little to stay such comments as he did not promote Industry, relying on Prestige and Military might to retain it's rank. Still, Portugal was at the helm of the most militarily advanced empire in the world. If it wanted it could conquer any nation in Europe without batting an eye. The GPs knew this, but simpletons couldn't comprehend this. Portugal had no need for industrialization, most of it's people were gorging themselves on Luxury items with great profits coming in from Fruit, Grain, and other items. Industrialization just seemed like too much effort for too small a gain.

China didn't stop expanding during this time either, it's industrial boom kept on booming and it showed no signs of stopping. It quickly surpassed the Greater Russian Empire ascending to the rank of #4 GP. It still met little acceptance, the Russians were in the middle of a huge Communist Revolt, it was destined to have a hiccup. Within a few years Russia would be back at #4, when Portugal began industrializing it would be #5. Austria would hold firm at #6 and some new GP would become #7 and then China would be relegated #8 and soon be shoved down to the ranks of the Secondary powers. This is what the European people told themselves, and it's what they believed. When Russia showed no signs of recovery the British, French, and American nations cursed Russia as nothing but a nation of Slavs who didn't deserve a spot in the GP ranks.

For a time China halted at #4, it didn't look as if it would ascend any further. Perhaps China had hit it's ceiling? Perhaps it would fall from the ranks of Great Powers? Perhaps everything Europe had been telling itself would be true? This was not the case, it just took China longer to eclipse France due to it's huge Military and Industrial scores. China overtook France in the beginning of the 1930s. Now there was total panic amongst the great powers. How long would it be before the United States fell to the Chinese Menace? How long would it be before Great Britain itself, the eternal Empire in which the Sun never sets falls to the middle Kingdom? It was at this point when China was welcomed into the ranks of the GPs. It was based more on necessity than it was on genuine acceptance. Emperor Puyi entered the ranks of the big boys.



As China began modernizing at a rapid rate, the nation of Japan also began twisting and turning. It had long since been firmly in the Russian Sphere of influence, who had invaded and taken over their northern islands with the guise of "colonizing". When China began it's process of Colonization, Japan began to import Prussian and French military men to train a professional army. Before long it developed it's own fully functioning Western Military force. The Shogunate, however, had become unpopular with this move and the Samurai wished to return to the old ways. Emperor Meiji became the symbol of a proud, ancient Japan. Through a series of conflicts the Edo Shogunate had been extinguished and the Japanese restored their military might in what's referred to as the Meiji restoration.



Emperor Meiji, however, had no desire for Japan to remain a backward nation. He immediately betrayed his former supporters making the nation of Japan far more western than the Shogunate ever would. There were minor revolts praying for a return to the old ways, but the last of these movements would be defeated in just a year. The Meiji restoration had officially made Japan a Western Nation. While Japan had no desires for an industrialized economy, it quickly ranked 16 among the secondary powers.

Emperor Meiji began instituting further reforms, welcoming the Chinese to take over the position of "Great Protector" of China. While Meiji had plans on becoming a great power, the though seemed distant. Japan had entered the game far later than China, nevertheless a military operation immediately followed the Meiji restoration and that was the Korean campaign. The Japanese invasion force quickly overwhelmed the Korean forces there, but before the entire continent could be overrun the United States intervened on behalf of the Koreans who were within their sphere. Unable to win the war Meiji suffered a severe hit to his prestige when peace was signed. He began pushing China to annex Korea, or at the very least remove it from the American sphere. Over the next few years Korea was removed from the sphere of the United States.

Japan wasted no time in declaring another invasion, but this time it only had the desire to take the area around Pyongyang. Japan felt betrayed when China intervened on behalf of the Koreans, who in turn welcomed Chinese protection. With no hope of success against the greatest military force that Asia had ever seen Emperor Meiji agreed to a white peace. Despite these setbacks Japan had continued to rise through the ranks and became the #12 secondary power, beating back Spain and Sweden. There were fears that Japan could become the #8 GP and quickly the military forces of Europe began to contain Japan. Meiji, despite the setbacks, had become a hero to his people and had been the second ruler to see a successful transition to a western power.



While the nations of Europe tried desperately to prevent any further "surprises" from occurring from Asia, another did take place. This time in the unlikeliest of places, Siam. The nation of Siam had long been firmly established in the British Sphere of influence. The British had conquered most of Indo-China, adding those territories to the newly established "Burmese Territory". Siam, however, was far different from any other nation the British sphered. It's Kings were able, and it's territory quite large, it was able to convince the British that it would be better to have them as a friend than as a conquered protectorate.

Trade relations flourished and the nation of Siam began to thrive. Their King, Rama V, began passing laws and increasing the prestige of it's nation. Before the end of his reign the nation of Siam, while not quite a powerful nation, was certainly on it's way. The next King, Rama VI, began westernizing the military. By 1930 the nation of Siam was fully westernized and became recognized by the British as a civilized vassal. Rama the VI was the last of the Asian nations to be recognized as Westernized.



Together Emperor Puyi, Emperor Meiji, and King Rama VI became known as "The Big Three" throughout Asia. All of them were bonafide heroes to their people and were brought to a high level of confidence by most European nations. These three pioneered westernization for all of Asia. Together these three nations ended up supporting a minor Indian state becoming Westernized as well, however that nation would never amount to the prestige and prowess of the first three nations. There are hopes that many more Asian nations will shed their ancient bonds and embrace western civilization, though most of the western world tries desperately to contain the issue. Perhaps these three nations, China, Japan, and Siam, will become the driving forces behind the next great era.

Alexspeed said:

Thats a steep challenge you set for yourself, considering the contest ends tomorrow

Thank you for your chapter 6!

Click to expand...

Yes, it is figuring because I'm planning on two more chapters and an epilogue which may or may not come in two parts. I'm setting an impossible goal for myself

Thank you for reading.

Chapter VII
The Prussian Question

Following the series of Communist Revolts that shook Europe to its very core, and the rise of China as a Great Power, things began to change in Europe. Most notable of the changes was Prussia. Prussia had long since been a Great Power since the fall of Napoleon, yet now it was on the decline. King Wilhelm of Prussia is the leader of a decaying Kingdom.



To make matters worse, Wilhelm is a political moron. He regularly estranges those who he could be friends with, and actively tries to be friends with those who would like nothing more than to see his destruction, and goes after people he should avoid entirely. Wilhelm is by all means should never have become King. By perhaps a mere stroke of luck Wilhelm forged an alliance with Luis of Portugal. There was very little to the arrangement other than finding a way to prevent the total collapse of Prussia.

Prussia was once a powerful nation with little estates scattered throughout Greater Germany with many of the small nations that make up Germany part of the Prussian Sphere. This, however, is no longer the case. Most of the disjointed sections of the Kingdom of Prussia no longer exist as part of Prussia, but are now absorbed into the ever growing belligerent Kingdom of France. Instead Prussia found itself growing ever more reliant on the territories of Denmark, Iceland, and Greenland. Great migrations of Prussian citizens fleeing the French armies have long since eclipsed the number of Danish and native peoples there. For a time it looked as if the Kingdom of Prussia would hold fast to it's number 8 position. However, this was not meant to be.

The Austrian Emperor of the house of Hapsburg-Lorraine declared war upon the Kingdom of Prussia following a series of diplomatic blunderings on part of Wilhelm. The Austrian Emperor had welcomed Luis to his side of the conflict, but Luis refused. Wilhelm was by far the more desperate party and eagerly began promoting Portuguese-Prussian relations among his people in the desperate hope that Luis would not abandon him to the Austrians. Of the two sides of the war, Luis opted to support Wilhelm in the conflict.



Immediately Austrian troops poured into the Prussian territories. Prussia's standing army was outnumbered perhaps 5:1 by Austrians. Wilhelm's best generals were charged with command of their largest single army of 78,000 men. There they met with some success against Austrian forces sometimes twice their size. However as the battles raged on more and more Prussian territories fell to the Austrians. The Prussians were losing the war, and Luis knew this and organized massive war subsidies to the Prussians. This helped them and the wars continued. Prussian territories however continued to be overwhelmed and the Prussians found themselves losing the war.



Luis organized his naval forces and moved to reinforce the the military forces in Berlin with the most advanced military force in the world, Imperial Portuguese Troops. There was just one problem. Portugal hadn't modernized it's vast fleet of ships, many of which were still wooden. The most advanced land force in the world couldn't influence the course of the war if it could never reach the battlefield. 80 Man of war class vessels sank to the bottom of the Ocean around Gibraltar, effectively ending Portuguese involvement in the war. The Austrians couldn't make landfall, and the Portuguese couldn't get to the Austrians. It was a stalemate.

Wilhelm, however, was in no such position of luck. Soon there was little of Prussia left under his rule except for Berlin and parts of Denmark and his overseas possessions. With the fall of Berlin the Hohenzollern Imperial family fled across the ocean to Greenland, but with a great many losses including much of the direct family of Wilhelm. Their it had an army of 30,000 Prussian soldiers protecting it's harsh icy landscape. The Hapsburg Emperor demanded Posen from Wilhelm, but Wilhelm refused. Eventually Luis was forced to reconsider the war all together, but Wilhelm would have nothing of it. His very survival depended on the subsidies he received from Portugal, which had by now cost Portugal nearly half a million in it's cash reserves. However Luis would be in for a surprise, the Prussians organized an amphibious assault on Austrian Morocco quickly capturing the region. The war had seen success for the first time in months. Both allies remained unwilling to come to anything other than a return to the status quo, while Austria refused to relent on it's acquisition of Posen.

However, Wilhelm would soon die leaving a bit of a succession crisis. Wilhelm's son, William, perished in the fierce fighting in Berlin. That left succession to fall to Wilhelm's second son, Eitel Friedrich who was currently in command of the armed forces in Africa. Friedrich had no love for the Austrians, but Prussia had lost too much to continue the war. Upon his succession to the Hohenzollern throne as King of Prussia he gave the Austrians what they wanted in Posen. A Separate peace would be signed between the Austrians and the Portuguese two weeks later.



Friedrich now was the first monarch in over a century to rule over a Prussia that had fallen from the ranks of the great powers. Prussia had long since been abandoned by all of it's allies who quickly turned to the French and Austrians for protection. Nevertheless Prussia and Portugal grew closer throughout the ordeal. Luis and Friedrich regularly exchanged diplomatic missions and established a defensive pact between them to intervene in each others wars. Friedrich began focusing on rebuilding his nation while Portugal began to promote peace between the European nations after that war cost the lives of well over 200,000 individuals. Nevertheless there were hungry eyes looking at Prussia for quick gains before it could rebuild it's military. Russia, Russia, and Austria began to carve Prussia into their sphere of influence. Portugal would have nothing of this and Luis threatened all out war with any nation that threatened the sovereignty of Prussia.

Luis, now in his sixties decided to abdicate the throne in favor of his son, Carlos who was himself was a middle aged man. Carlos immediately began to update the Portuguese navy, which had now become the shame of all of Europe. Before these could be implemented a problem occurred, the Russian Empire had declared full scale war on the Kingdom of Prussia and Friedrich was eagerly awaiting help. Once again Portugal was at war, and this time with a power even greater than the Austrian Hapsburgs. With the Prussian Military in complete disrepair, it could only organize a small number of troops to secure it's borders. Prussia had been victimized by the Russians once before, twice was a humiliation too great. Friedrich organized a small force of 30,000 Prussians to go up against 50,000 Russians.



The Prussians held firm to their borders as the Russians invaded. Armies clashed and once again Portugal gave subsidies to the Prussian military. Carlos may have been in command of the war, but Friedrich and Prussia were the ones doing the fighting and they had to be supported. Carlos began looking to find allies to bring into the war effort. Among Portugal's list of allies just six years ago were Sweden, Prussia, Austria, Russia, China, and Greece along with the protected states of the Portuguese Empire. Now that list was down to Prussia, Sweden, and China. Carlos asked Sweden to go to war with Russia, but the Swedes refused and abandoned Carlos. Carlos then appealed to Emperor Puyi of the Qing Dynasty in China. He received favorable responses and he was told the odds of them joining the war was "very likely", so when Carlos formally requested Chinese participation in the conflict he was surprised by Puyi's rejection. Carlos was losing allies. Eventually Carlos turned to the Republicans in Spain.

Spain entered the war on the side of Portugal and Prussia, but apart from that did very little to contribute to the war effort. In a gambit Carlos moved much of his African forces into ships and sent them to the Ottoman Empire as a stepping stone into Russia. There Portugal began to meet some success as Prussia continued to hold off the Russians who opted not to send any considerable amount of forces Friedrich's way. Just as it looked as if the war was beginning to take a turn for the better the worst possible thing that could have happened, happened.

Chapter VIII
End to the Beginning

Portugal was... unprepared for the war. Having shipped off most of it's African units to fight in Russia, there was very little that Carlos could do to step the onslaught of French soldiers rushing into the front. It was as if they had prepared for this for the past six decades, there were hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of troops lying in wait in the desert sands and in relatively small territory they had along southern western half of the continent. Carlos immediately called all the surrounding forces to fight off the French forces, but there were far too many for them to handle. Carlos ordered to retrieve the units from Russia, but most of the fleet was destroyed en route leaving just 26 ships behind. This left Portugal at war with two Great Powers with it's resources stretched to the utmost limit.



Within just one year of conflict Portugal was down to just over 200 units, spread across a vast seafaring empire, with most stationed in either Russia or Portugal proper. France had well over 500. Russia 700. There was literally nothing that Portugal could do against the French. Had it been a one on one fight and had Portugal been prepared for the conflict then the war may actually have gone well for the Portuguese. Both nations had Gas technology but only Portugal had an active defense for it. Russia was even further behind in the technology spectrum, but in the end it hardly mattered compared to the sheer massiveness of their forces.





For a time, however, Portugal succeeded in holding off France inside part of Africa. Severely outnumbered and outmatched the Portuguese army under Artur Gago was able to defeat relatively small french units. He was having great success, winning a great score of battles. However just as it looked like success was well under way, they ended up being completely destroyed. Artur lead a 30,000 Portuguese against 21,000 French troops, but as the battle was nearly won 42,000 troops reinforced the unit. For a time they were evenly matched and Artur may have succeeded if not for another reinforcement of this time 48,000 men. With no hope of success Artur retreated only to be pursued. Artur fled inland desperately looking for a place to recuperate but his army was defeated and forced to surrender.

Many Portuguese scattered and made their way south towards more defendable positions. By the time Portuguese recruitment efforts had come up with another force capable of doing battle with the French forces most of Africa was already taken. Thousands of Portuguese soldiers fled through relatively harsh terrain to make their way to Angola and the Congo to meet up with other forces.



In the north, however, things were different. Portugal had plenty of forces utilize and sent them off to fight in the Spanish theater of the war. The Spanish had roughly the same troops as the Portuguese in the area and together they put up one hell of a fight. Fighting mainly took place in Catalonia and Navarre. The French troops crossed over the border and poured into Spain. The Portuguese troops and the Spanish troops held them off for quite some time before one of the Spanish units failed and the French flooded Spain in Bilbao. The Spanish republican general Agusta retreated to the base of the Pyrenees mountain range. The Portuguese troops rallied around Carlos and attacked the 72,000 strong French army.

Agusta soon joined in the conflict and so too did many others. Over 300,000 troops were inside Bilbao fighting tooth and nail against the French. After three months of fighting something finally happened and the French retreated. Spain poured their troops into France and Portugal moved south to relieve Catalonian territories under siege from a minor french detachment. As the Portuguese were chasing after a force of 20,000 Frenchmen across all of Spain, the Spainish suffered a major defeat and fell back across the border and poured into Navarre. The French pursued and things became troubling as both Spain and Portugal's troops were getting worn down.

Back in Russia most of the troops there retreated back to neutral territory. A massive Communist rebellion unlike anything ever seen before had overrun the country. Prussia had, however, been mostly occupied and once again Friedrich was leading Prussia from his station in Greenland. News soon reached Portugal that much of the Imperial family was massacred in one of the most grotesque forms of regicide. And still the Russian Empire refused to back down from it's attacks. The Russian Tsar refused to let the deaths of his family sway him and saw death to not only the Communists but to Russia as well. With no end to the war in sight there was little celebration for the new year in 1936.