With regards to Yugoslavia- it is possible to make the nation via an event with out having the provinces required by the game in the revolt file. A similar case can be found with the Soviet Union when it can release the Republic of China when it annexes the Fengtian Republic. As the previous posters have said though, this would of course bring up a conundrum with its name. I think Yugoslavia would still be 'fine', as within the borders would contain Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks. Just not the 'core' of Serbian territories or Macedonia.
But considering precedent in our modern times when we have two nations laying claim to the Congo title, and two Koreas, I think it could be possible for such a state to exist in this world.
Chapter VI: At the Gates of Vienna
Obituary in L’Ordine Nuovo said:
Antonio Gramsci passed away on April 27th, 1942 early in the morning from an intracranial hemorrhage. He was 51 years old, leaving a wife, Julia and two sons, Delio and Giuliano.
Antonio Gramsci was born on January 22nd, 1891, in Ales on the isle of Sardinia to Francesco and Giuseppina Gramsci. He was born into a troublesome period for the family, with his father unable to deal with mounting financial problems in an already poor region. As a child, Gramsci had an accident which damaged his spine and left him short of height, along with numerous other diseases and conditions he would come to develop. The family had fallen further into poverty after his father was imprisoned on charges of embezzlement in 1898, causing Gramsci to drop out of school at a young age to support his family until his father was released in 1905. Gramsci returned to school afterwards.
Gramsci was able to attend secondary school in Cagliari with his brother Gennaro, a former soldier turned radical socialist who turned Gramsci to socialism- though as he would recount years later, he was more influenced by Sardinian issues than those of the working class by this point.
His scholarship to the University of Turin in 1911 due to his grades would mark a turning point in his life, both personally and politically. In Turin he would be exposed to the socialist movement, and here would meet Palmiro Togliatti, beginning their acquaintanceship. Gramsci would join the Socialist Party in 1913, and would leave the university in 1915 due to his financial problems and health issues, leaving him to commit to the party full time.
Gramsci would break into journalism, discussing culture, political topics, the workers, and plays, among other topics, in Il Grido de Popolo and Avanti! in Turin. As Italy entered into the War, Gramsci joined other socialists in opposing the war and supporting the position held by Lenin and others at the Zimmerwald Conference.
Comrade Gramsci founded this paper along with Terracini, Togliatti, and Tasca in April of 1919, shortly after the surrender of Italy to the Central Powers the previous August. As the Austrian occupiers set out to dismember the nation and crush the workers, the paper operated clandestinely, passed around by workers in Turin as they read about the revolution in Russia and the growing instability in France. With the situation as it was, the workers across Italy rose up, those in Turin influenced by L’Ordine Nuovo.
The successful revolution was not to be found in the strikes of the industrial cities of the north, but the peasant rebellion in the resurrected Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Acting on the potential, Gramsci would leave with many other socialists to the south, among them his fellow editors of L’Ordine Nuovo and revolutionary socialists such as Bordiga. Socialists who had supported the Great War, like Mussolini, would also join the rebellion.
The successful revolution catapulted Gramsci into prominence, putting him as General Responsible for Police. Following the events of the Second Congress in 1926, Gramsci was elected president of the House of Commons. In the ensuing years, Gramsci would be instrumental in constructing the republic, completing land reform, the creation of workers’ councils, the war against the Mafia and the Papacy, and eventually seeing the unification of Italy once more. He would gain much respect from his actions during the Anzio Crisis in 1936, when much of the government was away in the First Congress of the Third International at Paris.
Gramsci’s writings, from his time as a journalist to his time in government, will be available soon in the Central Library at Naples.
The last major conflict in the Balkans would be the Battle of Zagreb that began in May 25th and continued until roughly June 2nd. The battle, though relatively short compared to previous engagements in other urban centers, was chaotic and taxing on Italian forces. Despite a rapid advance into the city, the city was quickly reinforced by Hungarian divisions, creating a constant back and forth between defenders and attackers. It was only towards the end that the city was abandoned and a sole division trapped in the wake of the Italian advance.
With the Balkans mostly under control and a foothold in the heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy continued its advance towards the imperial capital of Vienna.
Mindful to the masses of French forces still stuck holding down the border with Germany, Italy also made plans to invade Bavaria.
From its positions in Austria, Italian forces crossed over the border, making its first major engagement with German forces at Augsburg on June 8th. With the speed of the advance taking the Germans by surprise, the city was only lightly defended.
It is believed that the defenders may have been in fact German divisions who had retreated back into their country after defeats suffered in the Austrian Alps. Considering the under-strength divisions that the Italian forces faced upon their entrance into Augsburg, this is the mostly likely case.
Their first step on German soil taken, the Italian forces began their plan to capture the Bavarian capital of Munich. With Augsburg occupied, a second assault took place on the city of Landshut. Like Augsburg before it, the city was only lightly defended and with divisions slightly understrength. The city fell without much of a fight, leaving Italian forces to surround most of Munich with the exception of its northern approaches, defended by a garrison as well as forces that fell back from Augsburg and Landshut.
As Munich fell under attack from artillery and air strikes on July 1st ahead of the invasion of Syndintern forces, the nobility and King of Bavaria retreated from the doomed capital to Berlin [1]. The battle for Munich was lengthened by rapid reinforcements from the Imperial Army, successfully preventing the fall of the city within the first few days.
However, the Battle of Munich would be overshadowed by another event. The bear in the east had finally awakened and made its first significant foray into International events- re-establishing its historical connections with the nations of the Entente. Their request was eagerly accepted by the monarchists in Canada, desirous of an industrial and military power like Russia.
The entrance into the war greatly complicated matters for the Syndintern. It was feared that Russia might have joined ranks with Germany, but with its ambitions in Eastern Europe as it was, this began to become increasingly unlikely. The Syndintern believed that Russia would instead turn its attention to forming an order with itself at the center, and possibly reaching an agreement with Japan in the east.
Turning back to old friends was unexpected, especially since Russia, despite its level of industrial development, would be the strongest nation in the block but still be subordinated to a weaker nation in the form of Canada. Russia may have had other intentions in mind, but what mattered for the Syndintern is that it meant that the Russian empire was now at war with the considerable armies of the Russian Tsar.
The Russian military began to mobilize on its western borders, threatening the border nations and clients of Mitteleuropa. For now, the Syndintern would only have to worry about the air forces and air emplacements of the Russians now available to attack them, but a direct confrontation with the armies of Russia would not happen unless Russia could secure military access from the nations of Mitteleuropa- something unlikely in itself. But anything could happen.
Hungarian divisions attempted to break into the Balkans to reclaim Zagreb and its surroundings, leading to fierce battles all across the front- fiercer than the Italians had expected. Much of the fighting centered on Osijek, with Italians and Hungarians exchanging control of the city at least five times until November of that year.
With the battle for Munich still raging, Italian forces remaining in Austria began to move on the Imperial Capital of Vienna. The first target would be the nearby city of Linz, located on a major supply route between the capital and the German Empire. Capturing would sever the enfeebled Austrians from the Germans, and weaken the defenses around Vienna to something more reasonable. On July 15th, Italian forces attacked, and once again facing disorganized Austrian forces, were able to quickly seize the city.
From the opposite direction, Italian force simultaneously advanced on the city of Kismarton [2] within the realms of the Kingdom of Hungary, choosing the location due to its close location right outside the capital of Austria. However, unlike the battle for Linz, the defenders were reinforced by Hungarian forces, slowing the advance of the Italian assault. It would only be nearly a full week after the fall of Linz did Kismarton fall to Italian forces.
The battle still continued in Munich as the People’s Army advanced into Austria. Imperial forces quickly reinforced the besieged capital and attempted to push the Italian forces out of Bavaria. A contingent of French forces relocated from the stagnant front in the west to aid the Italians in their push to overcome the reinforced capital.
The attempted was successful and after nearly a month of fighting, Syndintern forces entered Munich on July 30th.
French control of the Netherlands presented another opportunity for the Japanese in the far east- the colony of Indonesia lay open to them. With Germany withdrawing where it could from the far east to the European front, the entire pacific lay open to Japan’s ambitions. With the Netherlands possessing no more than a handful of colonial divisions that operated only to quell domestic rebellions, Japan felt no fear from declaring war on the nation.
An attempt to relieve forces in Osijek, an attack was opened up on the Hungarian city of Pecs to sever the main route for Austro-Hungarian forces into Italian-occupied Balkans. The attack reached its peak on August 10th, and soon the defenders were reduced to only two divisions. With a superior force attacking with massive artillery strikes, Pecs would fall within a few days.
However, Pecs itself would be recaptured only a few weeks later, much to the embarrassment of Italian commanders considering the state of the Hungarian divisions that led the counter-attack.
As the war raged away in the realms of Austria-Hungary, the scientists of Italy, led by Enrico Fermi, completed their research into the basics of nuclear physics and the order for an experimental reactor to be constructed was started by the republic on August 20th. A number of nations had already achieved this mile stone, among them the Commune of France, the Union of Britain, and the Combined Syndicates. In all likeliness, the Germans too had achieved this. For Italy though, it was a milestone that they could not imagine possible just a few years ago.
On August 25th, France managed to break through German emplacements in Groningen, and rapidly advancing past the city into Wilhelmshaven. After a short battle, the port city fell and the front, long stagnant, abruptly flared up into fierce battles as the French attempted to break through into the German Empire and encircle the forces in Alsace-Lorraine.
The Union of Britain had also managed to exploit the situation, advancing from its stagnant positions in occupied Denmark to within reach of the important city of Kiel. Now Germany was feeling pressure from various directions and with Austria on its last legs, it began to prepare a new plan to combat the sudden breakthrough of Syndintern forces.
It was only the last defense of the German forces was a rush to Berlin prevented, but the Syndintern forces, now breaking into areas with far less defensive emplacements than those found in Alsace-Lorraine, found itself in a much better position to wage the war.
With Germany fighting to keep back British and French forces, the Italians could focus on capturing Vienna. Without significant amounts of German forces to help the Austrians keep control of their city, it was believed the battle would be a quick one. Indeed initially in mid-September when armored divisions began to attack the city, it found only a lightly defended capital with understrength divisions to fight.
Attempting to stave off defeat, Austria evacuated its holdings in Bohemia and moved its army in a last pitch defense of the ancient capital. This proved to be successful in preventing the Italians from seizing the city in September, and caused the battle to turn into a siege.
Accounts from the siege, including from Niccolò Gallo, indicate displeasure with the way the battle preceded. Many of them did not understand how the battle for the city, which seemed to be a given at first, would suddenly turn quickly against Italy’s favor and shift the battle into a protracted siege.
Niccolò Gallo said:
We were within reach of our objective, our ultimate revenge against the Austrian throne. Vienna lay before us, the Danube cutting through it and going off into the east. Our rapid advance down the road from Linz made us believe that the final battle would be no problem. Everything was in our favor.
On September 14th I was among those that entered into the communities on the outskirts of Vienna and started the fight against the garrison there. As we expected, the capital was only lightly defended, and we faced hastily recruited militias from the populace and severely weakened regiments. It should have fallen within a few days.
Instead, we faced a sudden burst of reinforcements, the remainder of Austrian forces brought in its guard duties elsewhere in the empire as well as those that had been aiding the Germans in the western front.
Why did we not strike back against them? By all accounts we still had the superiority, and yet we halted and the battle went much more slowly, much more cautiously.
I would discover later that by this point our nation had, for lack of a better word, hit its limit. Our industry was fine enough- we simply did not have the population to support the size of our military any more, much less readily reinforce what was already present.
As Italy faced a fierce last-ditch defense in Vienna, the German forces, falling back from besieged positions in Alsace-Lorraine, engaged Italian emplacements in Augsburg in mid-September. This was a large battle, pitting a large Italian force against an even larger and better trained German force, and continued well into the next month. The German forces struck furiously, and it was only with the onslaught of the French did Italy keep control of Augsburg.
The French, advancing southwards from their breakthrough in the north, began the process of severing the German military still remaining in Alsace-Lorraine from those in the heart of Germany. This also had the effect of relieving Italian defenders in Augsburg as the situation grew more critical for the Germans from the French breakthrough into the northwest of Germany.
French positions by October 5th, 1942
The Ottoman Empire, previously occupied with the Kingdom of Egypt, recognized that Germany would face difficulties if it did not receive aid immediately. As such the Ottoman Empire formally entered into the war on behalf of the German Empire, honoring agreements with the nation established earlier.
This was in part due to recognition from the Ottoman Empire that within the nations of the Syndintern existed Arab and Kurdish revolutionaries who planned to return to the empire and destabilize it [3], causing uprisings that would threaten its existence. As such a war with the Syndintern was inevitable, and the Ottoman Empire would gain nothing by sitting out the war and letting Germany stand alone as the Syndintern advanced into the throne of the world.
From its positions in Bavaria, Italy began to advance further into the south of Germany, joining with French forces on an assault on Nuremburg on October 24th.
Syndintern forces, now with their fronts essentially merged, had an easier time coordinating their strikes and overwhelming the German positions where they faced them. This gave the Battle of Nuremburg success where defeat was certain.
The British began the Synditnern’s assault on National French and Mittelafrikan holdings in Africa with its successful capture of Liberia on October 28th, giving the Syndintern their first real foothold in Africa. Attempts at landing in the north of Africa were repelled by National French forces, prompting another approach which the British took upon themselves on account of their superior naval capabilities. With Monrovia captured, the British established an important beachhead and began to pierce northwards into the National French’s vulnerable territories, riling up native populations in the process, while moving a smaller group eastward to face Mittleafrikan forces.
The Combined Syndicates of America progressed well in its efforts to end the war in North America. On November 20th Boston, the capital of the New England state, fell to Syndicate forces and positioned it to broaden its war with Canada along its border with Quebec and New Brunswick.
Shortly afterwards on December 5th, the Pacific States of America surrendered to the Combined Syndicates, its leadership hoping for mercy from President Reed and the syndicalists.
President Reed had, despite expectations otherwise, forgave the leadership of the PSA and accepted them into the new nation, recruiting their aid in technological development and military training. Reed could have easily gotten rid of the businessmen and industrialists, but had spared them recognizing their benefit, both economically and starting the process of ‘reunification’ in the former United States.
The breakaway state of Hawaii sought protection from the Entente after the collapse of the Pacific States, having no desire to find a catastrophic war with the Combined Syndicates. For the most part, the syndicalists showed little interest in Hawaii for the time being, focusing on more immediate matters.
With its focus put entirely on Canada now, the full wrath of the Combined Syndicates turned towards ending the war in North America once and for all, and increasing its aid to the nations of the Syndintern in Europe.
Fighting slowed down in December, but Italian forces made gains in Bavaria, capturing Regensburg and slowly converging on the battle lines with France nearby. The Siege of Vienna was still continuing, though commanders felt that the city would fall by January. All in all though, the war had changed quickly- only a year ago it seemed to have stagnated horribly and seemed to present Germany with a favorable position- a war of attrition. Now Germany was on the run, and for the first time the Syndicalists felt the war would end in their favor.
The Battlelines entering into 1943
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[1] Elements of the Bavarian army, however, remained behind to defend the doomed capital.
[2] Kismarton was the holding of an important Hungarian noble family, the House of Esterházy. They were among the main powerbrokers in the Kingdom of Hungary.
[3] These revolutionaries had in fact already been deployed, but were waiting for a more ‘favorable’ situation to develop.