Vive L'Empereur: The Third French Empire - a National France Kaiserreich AAR

**Antonine** · 02-08-2012 00:12

Sorry guys, I left tonight's update a bit too late so I've ended up postponing it until tomorrow I'm afraid.

**Gukpa** · 02-08-2012 12:00

I love sunday so much 6: and one question about the AAR,why the bosnian muslin join the catholic league? :O

**Antonine** · 02-08-2012 13:38

Originally Posted by Gukpa

I love sunday so much 6: and one question about the AAR,why the bosnian muslin join the catholic league? :O

Because they're a puppet of Hungary - they won't necessarily remain members of the League though

**Gukpa** · 02-08-2012 14:21

Thanks

**Antonine** · 02-08-2012 23:54

1942 was to be a year of elections. In the spring the citizens of Austria, Germany and the French Empire all went to the polls.

In the French Empire these were to be the first elections since the start of the French Civil War and the collapse of the Second Republic in the 1919.

Elections to the National Assembly were provided for in the constitution of the French Empire but 1942 was to be the first time they would take place. However, as the Empire had followed on from the military junta of Marshal Pétain, these were to be the first elections since the fall of the Second Republic in 1919.

This, coupled with the fact that the government was appointed by the Emperor and that the National Assembly was merely an advisory body, meant that there were no national political organisations or parties contesting the elections when the citizens of the empire went to the polls.

As such, the turnout was relatively low and most of those elected were independent local politicians who stood on the strength of their local reputation rather than any kind of political ideology. The National Assembly elected in 1942 was, therefore, relatively bland and uniform in its support for the status quo - due, in part, to the morale boosting news of the rapid advance of the French army across Arabia.

In Austria and the rest of its empire, however, the political situation was much more volatile. While the majority of the Austrian political establishment supported the decision to join the Catholic League, a substantial minority remained stridently pro-German and anti-League - particularly given the increasing tensions of the Cold War.

In the rest of the Austrian empire, however, things were much more serious. The Hungarians in particular, equal partners in the empire, had not been consulted on the decision to join the League and Hungarian nationalists had found fertile ground for their opposition to an alliance which could result in the death of a generation of Hungarians in a potential war with Germany. And in the minor nations of the empire, particularly the non-Catholic areas such as Muslim dominated Bosnia, anti-League sentiment was much higher.

Though Hungary’s government was essentially an oligarchy with only a veneer of democracy, the government was not so secure in its position that it could afford to alienate most of the population. As it began to contemplate drastic action to quell the unrest, with whispers of the possibility of splitting away from Austria completely, public sentiment in Austria began to grow ugly.

Though most Austrians were happy enough with membership of the Catholic League, very few of them were willing to risk sacrificing their own empire just for the sake of remaining members of the League.

As the authorities responded to protests ahead of the elections with crackdowns and increased censorship, sporadic civil unrest and public disorder began to occur throughout the empire and the situation rapidly began to spiral out of control as the elections drew near.

In order to avoid the elections and the now inevitably divisive consequences of them, Emperor Otto I and the ruling Christian Social Party acted quickly. Since joining the League, Austria had technically been at war with both the Union of Britain and the Middle East Axis. This technical state of war provided the legal cover that Otto I and the Christian Social Party needed to announce the immediate suspension of the elections as a wartime measure and the assumption by the government of emergency powers.

The immediate consequences of this was the quelling of protest through the imposition of a curfew, enforced by the army, and a quelling of dissent. However, it was obvious to everyone that this was only a brief respite and that, sooner or later, the underlying issues would erupt again.

In Germany, the situation was also far from usual. During the war, the movement for giving women the right to vote had been strengthened immensely on the back of women’s work in the factories. And, following the defeat of France and the end of the war on the continent, the political establishment finally caved to the pressure and, with the tacit approval of the moderate Kaiser Wilhelm III, gave women the right to vote. As a result, 1942 would be the first year that the entire adult population of Germany would be able to vote.

This radical change, however, was relatively minor compared to the political impact of the on-going air war with Britain which was seeing the continued destruction of factories and houses in major north German industrial cities, and major constraints on the availability of consumer goods due to the priority of war production. Ever since the end of the war in France and the escalation of the air war, public opinion, particularly amongst the working class, had begun to turn against the continuation of the war. Twice now the working men of Germany had died in droves on foreign fields and the men who had been conscripted into the army at the start of the way were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the refusal of the German government to commence demobilisation and let them return to their jobs and their families.

The combination of these factors, plus a greater tolerance for a wider range of political views by Wilhelm III than that shown by his father, led to an utterly unexpected election result as the Social Democratic Party, with their platform of social reform and ending the war, experienced an unprecedented surge in support and, for the first time ever, won a majority in the election and formed a government.

Internationally, the reaction of the various governments of Europe was initially simply astonishment. In a very little while, however, many of them began to consider ways to take advantage of the perceived “softness” of the SDP.

In the Austrian empire the results were used by the government to attempt to reassure the nation that the decision to join the League was the correct one in the face of the political instability in Germany.

In France, the result encouraged Napoleon IV and De Gaulle to step up Project Jericho and authorise the construction of the first prototype nuclear reactor in the Algerian Desert as well as further expansion of the Armée de L’Air (ALA) and the navy.

Just prior to the Second Weltkrieg nationalist coups had taken place in Lithuania and White Ruthenia, deposing the German Hohenzollern kings of both nations. However, though the two newly independent nations had formed an alliance for mutual security, they had found themselves sandwiched between Germany’s allies on one side and the aggressively expansionist Soviet Republic on the other.

Following the election of the SDP in Germany, the Soviet leadership responded by stepping up their support for communist partisans in German occupied Russia and, after a month’s preparation, by declaring on White Ruthenia and Lithuania, confident in the unwillingness of the SDP to intervene in the conflict.

The consequence of all these events, so soon after the elections, proved incredibly damaging to the credibility of the SDP and forced them to act quickly on their commitment to ending the war in order to shore up their credibility.

However, their proposal of a second ‘Peace with Honour’ was met with hostility by the governing British Congress of the Trade Unions who, stiffened by the presence of the exiled Commune of France’s leadership and by their confidence in the ability of the Republican Navy and Air Force to both hold off any German attack and to strike back in return, refused the proposal outright.

This complete failure to deliver on one of their core policies was to comprehensively undermine the SDP and to doom any chances they had had of re-election. And, as if to reinforce the now widely perceived impotence of Germany’s government, just three days after the failed Peace with Honour negotiations the French Empire completed its annexation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Arabia.

**whatguts** · 03-08-2012 00:24

get ottoman into a separate alliance, and you have the Mediterranean at your finger tips

**Antonine** · 03-08-2012 00:43

WOOOOOOO!

I just realised that Vive L'Empereur has won the 'Other' category of the AARland Choice AwAARds 2012! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who voted for this AAR - it means a great deal that you took the time to do it, especially as this is the first AAR I've ever written

I've obviously now got to think up some kind of thank you present for you all so please, any suggestions as to what you'd like would be very welcome. Currently I'm thinking of a big smexy map of the French Empire I ultimately intend to create but I'm open to pretty much any suggestion

**homy_dog34** · 03-08-2012 05:12

Wow. What an excellent AAR. Now I really want Darkest Hour... Oh well, I guess Hearts of Iron 2: Armageddon will have to do.

Also, congratulations on your victory in the AARland Choice Awards!

**SovietAmerika** · 03-08-2012 05:25

Wow, Ukraine has itself an Empire there....

**Ivir Baggins** · 03-08-2012 08:51

Puppet Persia and annex Oman.

**Antonine** · 03-08-2012 08:53

Originally Posted by SovietAmerika

Wow, Ukraine has itself an Empire there....

Yep. If you look closely you can see part of it just north of Persia and it actually continues all the way to Mongolia. The map of Russia in this AAR is really very weird.

**Antonine** · 03-08-2012 09:00

Originally Posted by homy_dog34

Wow. What an excellent AAR. Now I really want Darkest Hour... Oh well, I guess Hearts of Iron 2: Armageddon will have to do.

Also, congratulations on your victory in the AARland Choice Awards!

Thanks on both counts

And actually, one bonus about Armageddon is that you've got the WW3 scenario - something that I miss in DH.

**KaiserMuffin** · 03-08-2012 12:51

Originally Posted by Antonine

The above is a long winded way of letting you all know that research into nuclear fuel analysis was completed on 1 November 1941 and that France's atomic bomb project is progressing nicely.

Bonapartium bomb? It might just catch on...

**Antonine** · 03-08-2012 13:30

Originally Posted by KaiserMuffin

Bonapartium bomb? It might just catch on...

Yep

That was one of my favourite touches

**gooy** · 03-08-2012 14:25

i think that germany governed by SPD might be inclined to give the soviets all the russian territories occupied by germany.
how much left is SPD in kaiserreich actually? maybe they could get some better deal with the syndicalists based on the ideology?

**Antonine** · 03-08-2012 19:07

Originally Posted by gooy

i think that germany governed by SPD might be inclined to give the soviets all the russian territories occupied by germany.
how much left is SPD in kaiserreich actually? maybe they could get some better deal with the syndicalists based on the ideology?

Given that they've already taken a massive hit in their support due to their perceived weakness in foreign policy, that's not very likely at the moment. But, as I said, the Soviets are increasing their funding for partisans in German occupied territory - so I doubt the Germans will want to continue policing frozen Russian wastes forever

**^_AC_^** · 03-08-2012 19:15

Originally Posted by Antonine

WOOOOOOO!

I just realised that Vive L'Empereur has won the 'Other' category of the AARland Choice AwAARds 2012! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who voted for this AAR - it means a great deal that you took the time to do it, especially as this is the first AAR I've ever written

I've obviously now got to think up some kind of thank you present for you all so please, any suggestions as to what you'd like would be very welcome. Currently I'm thinking of a big smexy map of the French Empire I ultimately intend to create but I'm open to pretty much any suggestion

Congratulations.