Perhaps consider building a few massive pieces of art out of German bones
If the Bonapartes want to subjugate the world they should not mess around
If the Bonapartes want to subjugate the world they should not mess around
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
- Status
The Third Battle for, and Liberation of, Paris
However, while the Second Battle of Paris had resulted in costly failure for the French Empire, the Austrian Empire was enjoying significant success in its own offences.
In Bavaria, Austro-Spanish forces had completed the encirclement of the city of Munich (thus avoiding a headlong rush into the type of urban fighting which had bled the French so thin in Paris) and their Bohemian allies had performed even better, overrunning most of the imperial state of Saxony and pushing into southern Brandenburg and seizing the city of Cottbus.
The encirclement of Munich would, crucially, allow it to fall easily to the League armies and by the end of May the capital of Bavaria was in Austrian hands.
League forces were also doing well in Scotland where the last German-held Scottish city had been reached by English, Welsh and French armies.
And in France itself, the French armies, as if to make up for their failure at Paris, had continued to drive the Reichsheer back through Burgundy and lower Champagne with massive battles taking place at Auxerre where the defenders of Vichy seized the opportunity for revenge against their German foes.
Auxerre fell on the 25th of May followed, in quick succession, by Chaumont on the 29th.
Emboldened by this new success, and taking advantage of the troops freed up by the shortening of the front line, Franco-Spanish forces launched a fresh attack on Paris - at this point defended entirely by the Reichsheer with a force consisting of two divisions of infantry and one panzer tank division.
Up against the combined might of the underequipped but large Spanish forces and the smaller but well trained and well equipped Imperial French Army, it was clear that the Third Battle of Paris could have but one outcome, with German reinforcements to the city crumbling under the weight of the massed tank divisions of France.
By this point it was abundantly clear that the German-backed Kingdom of France was doomed with increasingly accurate Imperial French intelligence reports revealing an army reduced to just seven depleted infantry divisions and a fourth-rate navy. Indeed, only the Royal French Air Fleet remained in any kind of respectable shape - due to the withdrawal of its seven fighter squadrons and seven bomber squadrons to German territory to protect the Rhineland from bombing raids.
With the fall of Paris on the 9th of June the Royal French government was relocated to Amiens, losing many of its number on the way due to defections, while the Hohenzollern King ‘Francois’ of France, having stayed in Paris as long as his forces held it, fled to Prussia to join the court of the young Kaiser Wilhelm IV who remained under effective house-arrest by the German military government.
But even as the German pretender to the throne of France fled Paris, Napoleon IV was making his first arrival in the city which his family had been barred from entering ever since the fall of the Second French Empire in the vanguard of the liberating army.
Parisians, despite the war time deprivations they had suffered, thronged the streets to see their new ruler - and to take their share of the food, clothing and blankets being dispensed by the French army at the “personal order of the Emperor Napoleon, liberator of France”.
Given that Parisians had, in the space of just ten years, known dictatorial Communard rule, German occupation and then the rule of a German king, the welcome received by yet another ruler was predictably muted.
Nonetheless, Napoleon IV was at least French and had beaten the hated Germans - something which had guaranteed the non-hostile reception he received and even resulted in a few French imperial flags being waved by the more enthusiastically Bonapartist members of the crowd.
Many variations on the official Imperial Standard were seen with most of the variations revolving around mistakes in the design and number of the golden bees on the standard - a problem which continues to face young French school children to this day.
But it was only in his “spontaneous” speech (recently declassified records reveal that it was in fact carefully written in advance by the Ministry of Propaganda) at the ruins of the Eiffel Tower that the Emperor began to win the hearts of Parisians by pledging not only to restore the City of Light as the capital of a united France and to rebuild the Eiffel Tower, but to also uphold the spirit of the “true French Revolution” in building a land of prosperity and hope for all Frenchmen.
However, while the Second Battle of Paris had resulted in costly failure for the French Empire, the Austrian Empire was enjoying significant success in its own offences.
In Bavaria, Austro-Spanish forces had completed the encirclement of the city of Munich (thus avoiding a headlong rush into the type of urban fighting which had bled the French so thin in Paris) and their Bohemian allies had performed even better, overrunning most of the imperial state of Saxony and pushing into southern Brandenburg and seizing the city of Cottbus.
The encirclement of Munich would, crucially, allow it to fall easily to the League armies and by the end of May the capital of Bavaria was in Austrian hands.
League forces were also doing well in Scotland where the last German-held Scottish city had been reached by English, Welsh and French armies.
And in France itself, the French armies, as if to make up for their failure at Paris, had continued to drive the Reichsheer back through Burgundy and lower Champagne with massive battles taking place at Auxerre where the defenders of Vichy seized the opportunity for revenge against their German foes.
Auxerre fell on the 25th of May followed, in quick succession, by Chaumont on the 29th.
Emboldened by this new success, and taking advantage of the troops freed up by the shortening of the front line, Franco-Spanish forces launched a fresh attack on Paris - at this point defended entirely by the Reichsheer with a force consisting of two divisions of infantry and one panzer tank division.
Up against the combined might of the underequipped but large Spanish forces and the smaller but well trained and well equipped Imperial French Army, it was clear that the Third Battle of Paris could have but one outcome, with German reinforcements to the city crumbling under the weight of the massed tank divisions of France.
By this point it was abundantly clear that the German-backed Kingdom of France was doomed with increasingly accurate Imperial French intelligence reports revealing an army reduced to just seven depleted infantry divisions and a fourth-rate navy. Indeed, only the Royal French Air Fleet remained in any kind of respectable shape - due to the withdrawal of its seven fighter squadrons and seven bomber squadrons to German territory to protect the Rhineland from bombing raids.
With the fall of Paris on the 9th of June the Royal French government was relocated to Amiens, losing many of its number on the way due to defections, while the Hohenzollern King ‘Francois’ of France, having stayed in Paris as long as his forces held it, fled to Prussia to join the court of the young Kaiser Wilhelm IV who remained under effective house-arrest by the German military government.
But even as the German pretender to the throne of France fled Paris, Napoleon IV was making his first arrival in the city which his family had been barred from entering ever since the fall of the Second French Empire in the vanguard of the liberating army.
Parisians, despite the war time deprivations they had suffered, thronged the streets to see their new ruler - and to take their share of the food, clothing and blankets being dispensed by the French army at the “personal order of the Emperor Napoleon, liberator of France”.
Given that Parisians had, in the space of just ten years, known dictatorial Communard rule, German occupation and then the rule of a German king, the welcome received by yet another ruler was predictably muted.
Nonetheless, Napoleon IV was at least French and had beaten the hated Germans - something which had guaranteed the non-hostile reception he received and even resulted in a few French imperial flags being waved by the more enthusiastically Bonapartist members of the crowd.
Many variations on the official Imperial Standard were seen with most of the variations revolving around mistakes in the design and number of the golden bees on the standard - a problem which continues to face young French school children to this day.
But it was only in his “spontaneous” speech (recently declassified records reveal that it was in fact carefully written in advance by the Ministry of Propaganda) at the ruins of the Eiffel Tower that the Emperor began to win the hearts of Parisians by pledging not only to restore the City of Light as the capital of a united France and to rebuild the Eiffel Tower, but to also uphold the spirit of the “true French Revolution” in building a land of prosperity and hope for all Frenchmen.
Congratulations on reaching the German border and taking Paris.
With regards to France's post-war borders, I would personally go relatively low key; annex Wallonia, Alsace-Lorraine and the Saar to get a relatively homogenous territorial unit. Establish Flanders and four or five German puppet states as buffers, the Netherlands can be left to its own devices. For the love of good make sure you break up Prussia, or maybe not, it could serve as a good boogeyman to keep the other German states in line. Sadly I fear Napoleon is going to get ambitious...
With regards to France's post-war borders, I would personally go relatively low key; annex Wallonia, Alsace-Lorraine and the Saar to get a relatively homogenous territorial unit. Establish Flanders and four or five German puppet states as buffers, the Netherlands can be left to its own devices. For the love of good make sure you break up Prussia, or maybe not, it could serve as a good boogeyman to keep the other German states in line. Sadly I fear Napoleon is going to get ambitious...
@Talt: Break up Germany? I have an idea? Confederation of the Rhine, North German Federation, Kingdom of Bavaria, Kingdom of Saxony & Kingdom of Prussia. Everybody wins...except Prussia.
I kinda wish Germany would win after all those nukes, but while Napoleon claims all the glory, the Austrians have all but won the war in the East. They should be in a position to make extensive claims post war, not just Napleon.
I guess the Germans really are paying their comeuppance for 1866 and 1871, the nukes were just the beginning.
This is a good point. I could see Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, and maybe even Baden-Wurttemburg all being annexed by Vienna. Dresden didn't get nuked, did it? The plan would also explain Vienna intelligently treating Munich with kid gloves.
Yeah. South Germany is likely to be annxed by Vienna, and aspire to become the new Germany.
Kind of been beaten to it, Bavaria, Baden and Wurrtenburg should be annexed by Austria, and maybe small provinces like Katowice been annexed by Bohemia. I would say that go sick and annex Belgium and the Rhine, however for a realistic sake, I would do what talt suggested because i'm sure Austria would go sick. You could also, despite being at war with Denmark given them territory down to Lubeck and Hamburg to help create a balance of power. Then simply balkanise up the rest of Germany.
If you don't care what Austria say then go to the Rhine, and annex Belgium. Another plus, as an extra to say get Poland in is to give them territory and access to the sea (depending on what state they're in) Also to gain permanent and 100% over Netherlands, given them Wilhelmshaven, Muenster, Cologne and Aachen. (Pretty much on par with with the Netherlands wanted territoriality after WW2 in OTL) or give them Flanders instead of the other bit.
If you don't care what Austria say then go to the Rhine, and annex Belgium. Another plus, as an extra to say get Poland in is to give them territory and access to the sea (depending on what state they're in) Also to gain permanent and 100% over Netherlands, given them Wilhelmshaven, Muenster, Cologne and Aachen. (Pretty much on par with with the Netherlands wanted territoriality after WW2 in OTL) or give them Flanders instead of the other bit.
Last edited:
Great AAR! Inspired me to start my own National France game.
Of which: Can someone make the Treaty of Bordeaux, Occitain Wall and Savoyard Events for DH 1.3 Please? Game seems barren without them.
Thank You.
EDIT: What i want France to look like:
Though you'll need to annex Piedmont from the Italians and Maastricht for the Netherlanders.
Of which: Can someone make the Treaty of Bordeaux, Occitain Wall and Savoyard Events for DH 1.3 Please? Game seems barren without them.
Thank You.
EDIT: What i want France to look like:
Though you'll need to annex Piedmont from the Italians and Maastricht for the Netherlanders.
Don't need Piedmont, just settle for Savoy and Nice, that's all, but go for broke and take all the low countries.
Hell, why not take ALL the Swiss cheese for yourself? If their independent streak becomes a bit too much, you can always puppet them sans Romandy Province.
France should focus on winning before excessively worrying about the form its dominance will take.
I concur with Nike, and I'd like to add another point. All these grand plans for the complete restructuring of Europe seem... amazingly and unbelievably far-fetched. Despite what KR's rule for manpower is, I think it's pretty clear that the way this war's been slogging on that we're looking at destruction in France equivalent to that of WWI and WWII combined and across two different wars in Cosmopolitan France. And sadly, there isn't a United States in this timeline that's going to be able to send over billions upon billions of dollars to help rebuild France.
What I'm basically saying is, France could redraw the borders of Europe however it would like, but it's ability to maintain them, Hell, maintain their colonial empire would be pretty much nil by this point. Maybe from all the extra focus on Algeria they'd be able to keep hold of it, but I think The Emperor and Charles have pretty much blown France's load on retrieving the mainland. I know they'd likely still go for a grand design, because Hell, it's a Bonaparte and Charles de Gaulle we're talking about, but I think the system they'd built upon French military and economic dominance would collapse, because those two factors just wouldn't be there after all the death and destruction that's been wrought.
What I'm basically saying is, France could redraw the borders of Europe however it would like, but it's ability to maintain them, Hell, maintain their colonial empire would be pretty much nil by this point. Maybe from all the extra focus on Algeria they'd be able to keep hold of it, but I think The Emperor and Charles have pretty much blown France's load on retrieving the mainland. I know they'd likely still go for a grand design, because Hell, it's a Bonaparte and Charles de Gaulle we're talking about, but I think the system they'd built upon French military and economic dominance would collapse, because those two factors just wouldn't be there after all the death and destruction that's been wrought.
I'm not completly sure about that: If France is exhausted (and it must) then it's adversaries are too. I really think it depend on what policies the Empire enact in the colonies and in Europe. Giving equal rights to the colonials and investing in education could be a solution way more effective than keeping them by force.
Well I meant in game terms. With only 200 manpower a war against Austria and allies is possible to win if you want to seize their territory, but it would be a hard slog I suspect.
- Status