Faugh A Ballagh - An Irish AAR

Update incoming in the next few days.

The Anarcho-Liberal[1] party wasted no time in trying to reform the state of Ireland after they came to power. The leaders of the party decided that the first thing that was required was to expand the majority in the House of Commons (Ireland)[2]. To do this they realised they would need to tap in a much larger vote franchise. So on the 2nd of January 1860 the "Day of Reform" began. Universal Suffrage was extended to all male citizens over 21, the working class had a large tax cut[3] and a national pension fund was introduced. These events coupled with the discovery of gold in Sitka in Alaska were all exploited as propaganda to try and win over the working classes before October.


[5]These reforms however lead to an uprising in Cork among a group of highly conservative reactionaries whom were determined to overthrow the government. This rebellion however had a strange reaction in Dublin. The army was ordered to crush the rebellion as it had previous ones but the General Staff of the army initially refused. Until their demands were met that a moderate conservative government was instituted the army wouldn't leave Dublin. After much debate the Anarcho-Liberals stepped down with the belief that they would be returned to power in October and the "Provisional Government" came to power. With that sorted the Army marched on Cork and crushed the rebellion.


While the home situation continued to cool down the most shocking news came from North America. The United States tired of fighting a two front war, and generally tired of fighting sued for peace with the United Kingdom and the Canadian war ended with no territory changing hands. This freed up large numbers of Union troops to attack the CSA in the south thus immediately changing the European perception that the United States would lose this war. Many now felt that the tide was turning against the CSA and whatever diplomatic missions there had been to t=Richmond were now quietly withdrawn.

Finally on October 5th 1860 the results were in. The Conservative party was returned with 81% of the vote. The reforms of the Anarcho-Liberals earning them nothing in the long run except a humiliating defeat. The conservative government however did not immediately over rule and roll back the reforms as clearly the reforms had given them a huge majority in government. So why not keep them? Other news at the time was the retirement of the nations Clipper Transport ships to be replaced with Irish produced Steam Transports. Harland and Wolff in Ulster received the contract, as they were likely to do for much of the countries future when it came to naval expansion. A bill was also passed to enlarge the military so that some forces could be deployed to Alaska to help keep the area safe.


The country continued to prosper however this masked a much more sinister situation. The Irish state was bubbling with rebellious murmurs. From some it was the extreme nationalists who wanted to cut all ties with Britain. From others the Socialists and Anarcho-Liberals seeking to overthrow the conservative government. Even amongst the Anglo community some voiced their desire to return to British rule. This was the tightrope the government walked in trying to calm the various factions from straight out revolt. However this policy would prove to fail and the first such failure was in Galway. On March 23 1861 an extremist Nationalist group took over locations around Galway city and attempted to proclaim the "Free Republic of Ireland". The Army was sent in to quell the rebellion. It succeeded but some started to voice their concern at this being the second rebellion in as many years they had to put down.


This need for military reinforcement came at a bad time however. As in Mexico a conflict had been brewing. France and Spain were already at war with Mexico and so far the British Empire, and by extension Ireland, had managed to stay out of the conflict. This changed when on November 14 the British Empire was dragged into the conflict and Ireland was required to declare war on Mexico. While the Dublin government would have like to not have to send any troops they knew if they didn't relations with London would be strained. Eventually the Military commanders of Ireland and Britian as well as the required politicians came to an agreement. Irish troops would be used only to defend Honduras against Mexican forces and would be excused to return to Ireland in case of any further rebellions.


The conflict however was mercifully swift and was over by May of 1862. The only Irish losses being to the extreme conditions of Central America. Besides the Military was needed at home to help with a new invention the military was working on. The Machine Gun. Also in the news was the planning of a new Steamer shipyard in Munster. The Healy-Ray Business family had decided that it was time to compete with Ulster and had commissioned the construction of the Healy-Ray Shipyard in Cobh, Co. Cork. The combination of the Machine Gun and this new naval facility allowed Ireland to start doing what a real nation at the time would do. Claim colonial possessions. Irish investors began to put money into government lead plans to build sites in along the Western African coast. Similar schemes were drawn up for the Pacific.


Thankfully this was the last interesting thing that happened before the year 1865 rolled around.

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So Comments? Questions? Tequila Bottles?

[1] I refuse to call Sinn Fein Anarcho-Liberal. From my own study of Irish History I feel they can't really be classed as such.
[2] Finally gave the Irish government an official name
[3] Down to 30 %
[4] Hehe
[5] From here on I had to load an 1860 save and try again. In this save the Gold rush still hasn't happened but I was having a real head ache getting rid of the Anarcho-Liberals that it was either that or rage quit. As i had the two previous attempts to write this update.

@ Sardoniscorn Thank you very much

And now my question for you the readers. Do you think I'm getting enough text to picture or am I over relying on pictures?

Stuyvesant said:

Hi. I was visiting the Vicky forum out of nostalgia and saw that yours is really the only AAR still going (although I'm still holding out hope that Director will be able to finish 'Providence' some day). A sad, if inevitable, state.

I decided to check your AAR and was very pleasantly surprised. I'm enjoying the plausible setup you created and the detailed description of all the balancing and politicking to keep all the factions content.

And finally, I think the ratio of screenie-to-text is excellent.

Consider me subscribed.

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Thank you kindly. It is an upsetting situation that I'm the only one still updating in this cornor of the forums.

To say the latter half of the 1860's would be good to Ireland would be an understatement on par with the sea being only a little damp. The only negative impact the nation suffered was during the Steel Crisis of 1865 were conflict on the European continent disrupted Steel Imports and domestic industries were not equipped to deal with it. This however rapidly changed with a massive expansion project being ordered for the Sligo Steelworks.


This expansion of the Steel works was to prove necessary to assist the colonial expansion of Ireland. The first Irish interests in Africa came to fruition in 1866 leading to the first Irish colonies in Africa. Rooktown, Conakry and Accra being the selected colonial spots. While plans were drawn up for further expansion in Africa an overhaul of the ports of Alaska was ordered to allow colonisation of some Pacific areas to begin, unknown at the time was the affects that this Pacific expansion would have on Irish-Japanese relations.


Also in 1866 Queen Victoria visited Ireland for the second time in her life. Once again the streets were filled with well-wishers and her visit was well received with her visiting not only Dublin but Belfast, Galway and Cork were she departed from Cobh Naval Base for home.


Also of interest to the world stage was the Anglo-French diplomatic conference of 1867. In this conference representatives of France, Britain and Ireland came together to discuss the German question. Following the Austrian-Prussian war the territories of Germany had changed. There were only four nations were previously there had been at least a dozen. Prussia, The North German Federation, Hannover and The South German Federation. The North being under the control of Prussia and the south under the control of Austria. France was already allied with Austria and the conference was the first of many to try and convince the British to side against Prussia. While in that sense the conference was a failure it did succeed in strengthening relations between the three countries and bringing considerable prestige to Ireland.


Then in June came possibly the most important moment in the relationship of Britain and Ireland. On June 10th the people of the British colonies of Canada were granted dominion status, the same as Ireland. Original plans to include Alaska in this new state had been fought against tooth and nail in Westminster and Dublin. But the most important question would be how would the countries get along. In conference held by the Irish governor of Alaska John Martin, accompanied by his assistant Charles Stewart Parnell, the Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald came to form with Ireland what would become the ground work for the Commonwealth of British Dominions.

This commonwealth was designed to promote close relations between the Dominion countries of Great Britain(1). Negotiations were held and the decision that the countries in question would be held to the following requirements was reached.


With this groundwork finished the Commonwealth was established. It was proposed that a meeting between the countries be held every four years on the 1st of July alternating between the dominion countries as the host.


While this was the last truly eventful thing to happen to Ireland before the year 1870 came along it was not the last important event to happen in the world. In 1868 the Italian Peninsula erupted in war. The Two Sicilies began a military campaign to unite the peninsula into one country while being assisted by France. This however lead to the involvement of Austria and the South German Federation to intervene on the side of Sardinia Piedmont. The conflict quickly became bloody with France making some gains against Piedmont but facing a full on invasion from the Austrians. The Sicilian Military was not equipped well enough to deal with the Austrian military and was now facing a reversal of fortunes as it started to be forced back down the Italian peninsula.


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Questions, Comments, Suggestions or various explosive weapons?

[1] Mbwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. None shall stop the alliance of the Commonwealth.

Right so the commonwealth. Oh boy the commonwealth. This took so much damn work to write it's not even funny.

Treppe: I Have been planning a General society update for a while now but its been taking a back seat to just updates in general. However I think a slight intermission wouldn't be a bad thing so I'll get working on that.

Stuyvesant: Badly is how my military is coming along. My countries economy is barely turning a profit at this point and I can't afford to raise the lower taxes as I'm now only starting to not get rebellions every couple of years. And I'm really really really going to need a bigger navy soon, Japan and I aren't what you'd call friends and with my planned expansion in the Pacific I think war may be on the cards and at the time of writing Japan has me very much outclassed on the naval front.. The commonwealth however is due to the fact that in every other game I play I always want up with -200 relations with Canada and the rest of the Dominion nations for nothing. This time around I've written up some events to prevent that.

Also folks I'm an idiot. I forgot to save when it hit 1870. However after replying from my last save everything went very similar with the difference being the Italian war started later then usual.

Stuyvesant said:

Good luck building a navy, then. wouldn't you be able to count on the Royal Navy in case of war, though? I doubt any nation in the game could match Britain's sea power...

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You'd think that. But knowing my luck and the Artifical Stupidity the Royal NAvy would all be deployed to the other side of the world to the fighting. So I have to build an Irish navy.

My apologies about the lack of an update. I have been away from my computer due to unforeseen circumstances and usage will be sporadic over the next few days. However I will have a full update early next week.

Korea as a nation has a long history of being attacked and subjugated by it's neighbours. However in 1870 the country was being nurtured by a foreign land far away from its neighbours. Ireland. The Dublin government had come to the belief that by establishing Korea as a friendly nation it would have a secure operations base to operate from in the Western Pacific ocean. Mostly so that assets in Alaska and the Pacific in general could be guarded against the Russian Empire. This culminated in the Declaration of Korean Intent which was a declaration by the Dublin Government that Ireland would guarantee the independence of the nation of Korea against all aggressors, except of course for Britain or else the London government would have had a very dim view on the Irish situation. While such an action was applauded by the powers of Europe, there was one nation that was not happy to learn of this information. Thus the Empire of Japan declared war on Ireland on the 18th of January to discourage the Irish government from expanding it's interests in what the Japanese regarded as their sphere of influence.

This was to be the first conflict the British Commonwealth would fight in.


British Troops stationed in India were the first to land in Japan on February the 13th. They landed unopposed and began to occupy the territory of Sumpu to establish a beach head for further British operations. On March 12th a Royal Navy squadron of mostly obsolete ships was decimated by the Japanese Navy. While a large force prepared to throw the British back into the sea at Sumpu. The opening moves of the war did not bode well for the Commonwealth.


On March 22nd the first Irish Troops landed in Japan in the area of Satsuma. While Reinforcements were sailed into Sumpu as the British made a startling discovery. The Japanese empire had for years been boasting about the size of its modern military but most of its military was found to be nothing more then barely organised Irregular companies. This news caused military planners in London, Dublin and Ottawa to seriously redraw their plans. The redrawn plans showed the possibility of retribution from Japan was significantly smaller then first imagined. This was all the politicians in both Dublin and London needed and they began to pour their nations full fighting forces into Japan. A joint command was drawn up in that Britain would take care of the main Japanese Island while Ireland and Canada would handle the outlying islands. At the rate currently progressing it seemed likely that the war would be over before Christmas.


Meanwhile in Europe the Italian front was grinding into a bloody mess. For while Austria-Hungary was gaining ground it was having to pay a very heavy price for every inch. France was losing territory to Sardinia-Piedmont which succeeded in removing any visions of grandeur the French nation still had. Attempts by the Austrian government to get assistance from Britain remained unsuccessful but many in Vienna hoped, and in Rome feared, that this would change soon. Meanwhile Prussia watched the situation in France with great interest and in quiet Prussian military minds began to draw together plans for the invasion of France.

On July 30th the Irish Army met the first organised military response of the Japanese Empire. Unlike the forces that Britain had faced these were Regular troops and well trained. However they were injured and had suffered huge loses. The Irish began the battle of Hakata in high spirits and reinforced with artillery and cavalry. The Japanese began the battle of Hakata injured and lacking in supplies. Unsurprisingly the Irish won a swift victory. However the conflict on the Mainland was beginning to drag out. The Japanese were proving quite stubborn to move from their territory and bar landings on the Hokkaido Island to the North by the Irish and a landing in the Bonin Islands by the Canadians the mainland of Japan started to represent a quagmire with the conflict carrying on well into 1871 and showing no signs of stopping.

However in Italy the government of Two Sicilies finally capitulated to Austrian demands and lost much of Northern Italy to Austria, shattering all dreams of a United Italy. However the war in France was not over and the Southern German Federation was steam rolling across much of central France while Sardinia-Piedmont continued to assault from the South.


Finally on March 25th 1872 Japan surrendered to the Commonwealth and signed the Treaty of Fukushima, named so as the sight of the last battle of the war, In it Japan seceded to become a satellite state of Britain and it lost territory to Ireland and Canada with Hyuga Amami and Okinawa to Ireland and the Bonin Islands to Canada.
Dublin exploded in celebration. The partying went on for a solid week and was only topped by the partying in Alaska due to it being granted full State status on the same day as the wars end. However while the people celebrated the military leaders of Ireland met in back-rooms to discuss one vital thing. Ireland would not have stood a chance in this war if it were not for Britain. It's navy would have been completely outclassed and it's army outnumbered. The military leadership, and sympathetic politicians, had realised it was time to rectify this matter and these informal meetings would be the beginning of an extension of the Irish military in both the Army and Navy.

However this celebration helped hide one fact. Ireland was becoming financially unstable. It's industry was haphazard and was in desperate need of an overhaul. There was no way Ireland could hope to ever fight another war unless it got it's budget settled out. Thus investment in Industry began to rise with the Shipyards in Belfast and Cork and the Steel Mills of Galway receiving attention.

This was also coupled with the news of the settlements of both Guinea and Iboland coming to fruition in Africa giving Ireland access to it's own coal mines. However a decision was reached that Ireland would curtail its colonial expansion until such a time as the economy fully recovered.

However apart from a small uprising in Okinawa and Hyuga Ireland until the year 1875 would be a quiet place.

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So......

Yeah that just happened.

[1] The Japanese have declared war on in me before but on test play troughs it is usually not until the late 1880's early 1890's when they stand a better chance. This time around they went in early and well the conflict outlined above happened.

I apologise for the lateness of this update but technical difficulties have been plaguing me for a while. And then I went to a convention which guaranteed I got no work done.

Also is it wrong that I think it funny that of all the countries in the world Canada received part of Japan?

Stuyvesant said:

When I read that, it was obvious that the war would drag on. Still, a good end result.

Are those bits of Japanese real estate any help at all, our would you be better off to sell them back to Japan? Could give your economy a nice cushion...

It is a rather unusual sight to see Canada go all imperialistic. Then again, the Bonin Islands don't exactly impress as the most splendid colony...

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Hyuga I might sell back in a future date. But with Japan as a British Satellite State such a deal could be far off. The only thing stopping me is the Tobacco production it does.

I intend to keep Okinawa and Amami.

And yes I know the Bonin Islands aren't much but it is still a peculiar sight.

Update incoming.

I have no Idea of the exact date.

Right so. I hate to say this but I'm curently quite sick. That means my planned update will be pushed back.

A little taster. This is the update when I properly introduce Charles Stewart Parnell.

Better taster.

My opening line:

"Ah 1877. The year "Beaten like a Japanese Stepchild" entered the Irish colloquial lexicon." - Tommy O'Neil, Ireland a Comedic History