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Planck

Unique Username #66563
71 Badges
Feb 2, 2007
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(1) Irredentism

'A mere year ago our country has come into existence. From Sicily to the Alps, Italians no longer say they belong to small independent states, but to one unified Italy.'

However, not all Italians can call this newly founded state their home. In the Papal States, under French influence, Rome itself is controlled by the church. And beyond the northeastern frontiers many of our brethren still live under the Habsburg tyranny. They must soon be freed, but first Italy must gather its strength as a whole to face them.

And not only that, but beyond the beauty of Venice are more of our folk... yes in Dalmatia lie our natural borders, and perhaps even farther?

The Nationality Mapmode shows easily where to find where our people are being kept as hostages.

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Yes indeed, Austria is powerful. Thankfully we managed to secure an alliance with France and proposed an alliance to Prussia. Our interests are mutual, none of the three countries is overly friendly to Austria at the moment (although the French seem to be leaning towards them), so we'll maintain it as a purely neutral diplomatic approach.

Italy as a nation is new to the world stage. So we want our diplomatic missions to keep a close eye on other nations that present an immediate interest to us. We order them to focus primarily on Europe (we couldn't care less about what's going on in Asia or the Americas for now), and especially our neighbours.

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Many of the newly formed Italian brigades are undermanned. Fortunately our administration can quickly get the census results and analyse directly where to focus our attention. The Population Density Mapmode gives us details about that.

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With a constant stream of information coming from our various ministries and regional administration offices, we can quickly change our priorities as the needs of the nation change. Therefore for now we use our National Foci in states with high Population to promote more soldiers.

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The next step is to formally declare our point of view, that lands under foreign control are ours by right. After all, no one can contest that there are ethnic Italians living there, right?

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In the period of many months, after numerous postings of job opportunities in the military and the subsequent increase in its budget, eager youngsters from all over the countryside join up the army. Many are assigned to reinforce current regiments, but some new armies are being assembled and given new commanders. Our future focus will be in the north, so the recruitment centers in South Italy are directed to automatically send their recruits to Romagna when they are ready.

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There is no public mention of war yet, just rumours that the Italian border with Austria is being reinforced as a precautionary measure. There is still discussion among the politicians within the liberal party, whether such spending on military is justified. Many are against it: staunch Anti-militarists. However, it is clear to the international community that Italy is up to something.

For now the country focus is on military. There are many other fields to improve, though, for example the education and bureaucracy. These must be taken care of, so some national foci are dedicated to bureaucrats and clergymen for now.

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The population is generally happy, only a few minor regional independence movements (Pope loyalists! Bah!), but we never know what the future might bring. That's why it's imperative to strengthen the bureaucracy to generate suppression capability and make sure this small disgruntled rabble does not turn into the militant rebels of tomorrow.

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(2) The Path to War

All was calm, but it all changed when the Fazione Monarchica - a pro-military reactionary party - took power after the elections, winning the vast majority of votes. Suddenly, the rumours of Italian aggression against Austria were not being hushed or denied. There was only a stoic silence from the reactionaries in this matter, but actions proved otherwise.

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Construction began on a series of forts along the Italian-Austrian border, from Bergamo to Ferrara, and the brightest military minds of the country received generous state support to research military strategies and doctrines of the French and Prussians. Military spending was increased further, more soldiers recruited, and most in Europe were able to foresee the inevitable.

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By 1868, the huge governmental investments in the construction of forts and the enlargement of the army were being a drain to the national budget, forcing the Bureau of Finance to raise taxes - and when that proved to be insufficient - to borrow money. The reactionary party maintained that this was needed, but did not care to elaborate further. In reality, hawkish members of the government were making the final preparations and plans for war.

The only exception to this rather crass neglect towards the economy was the construction of factories producing expensive military-related goods (perceived by the pro-military/jingoistic lobby as fundamental in case of war) and the heavy subsidisation of factories.

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Then all of a sudden, worrisome news reached Turin. The French, who were since the early 1860's leaning towards Austria, made an alliance with the Habsburgs. They were then allied to both us, Italy, and Austria, and in case a war "accidentally" broke out between these two... France could remain neutral, or even worse - help the Austrians. Italy would be fighting a two-front war in the north then, and that would not be good.

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The Prussians were still likely to help, and it would be in their interest too, since Austria was interfering with their affairs in the minor German states. However if France came to aid Austria, Prussia would also be fighting a two-front war. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Budgetary concerns were overwhelming and the military spending was increasing by the day. There was enormous pressure from opposition parties and the middle classes alike, all demanding an explanation regarding the financial condition of the country. This forced the Reactionaries to act sooner rather than later...
 
(3) The War

On the 29th of April 1866, a declaration of war against Austria was received by the Austrian authorities. The reason: unlawfully occupation of natural Italian territories, oppression and forbidding of rights of Italian people in Austria. There was no turning back.

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The French declined to help us in our righteous war, but at least also refrained from helping the Austrians (yet). The traitorous Prussians, scared of French involvement, declined to help us. The Austrians had the support of their spherelings. Luckily though, some of our other allies, including the Ottomans, decided to help us. Whether the "sick man of Europe" will be more a hindrance than a helping hand remains to be seen...

The war started with an aggressive incursion across the border towards Venice. The only resistance they met was a group of scattered garrisons along the roads, nothing to be afraid of. The Austrian reserves were too far in the hinterlands to prevent the invasion. They would come soon enough though, organised and prepared, so Italian soldiers were told to stay alert.

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After a few months of war, although in the north the situation was going in our favour, along the Austro-Ottoman border things were not so well. Italian ships blockaded Austrian ports, however Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg sent their armies south and were crushing our Ottoman allies... Worst of all, province after province there fell to the enemy occupation.

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The Austrian reserves finally arrived and many of our soldiers were killed, especially after some ill-fated incursions by our not so bright Generals in the Eastern Alps. Reinforcements had to be built and recruits trained.

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Leaving their land behind and relying on Austria to protect their civilians was one of the terrible mistakes the South German countries made. Together with the bold Swiss, regiment after regiment of Italians descended from the Swiss Alps down towards the Swabian towns. Soon enough they would beg for peace, that is, if the Ottoman military doesn't collapse in the mean time.

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Battles were still raging in the north and armies were bogged down in Tyrol. However, after receiving dire news from the failure of the Turkish armies in the south, it was decided by the HQ to send some spare troops to help the Ottomans. It was ultimately not enough to defeat the forces there, and some battles were indeed lost, but it delayed further (perhaps mortal?) wounds to the sick man.

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After 2 long years of war and after having their own cities occupied, the Southern German states decided to jump out of the war, blaming the Austrians for their demise. Our Swiss allies were generously rewarded with an enclave in Rheinland, the city of Kaiserslautern and the lands surrounding it.

d4ies.jpg


Once south German troops withdrew from the Balkans, the Austrians were facing a very difficult situation. It did not take long for their people to become exhausted and militant, after years of blockade and war.

On the 3rd of July 1870 the violent war of liberation was finally over. Victory! The Austrians recognised Italian hegemony over the states of Venetia, Istria, Dalmatia and the glorious Alps of Tyrol.

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"But wait a second... Why the whole Tyrol?" ... you ask? Indeed, not many Italians lived there. But there is no time for petty moralistic premises, this is Realpolitik! Besides, have you not learned history is written by the conquerors?

Now...

Rome beckons!
 
Bonus deleted scenes / backstage content:

In the streets of Turin, banners like "Viva Italia!" and "Italia Redenta!" could be seen. The population celebrated victory for days. However, in the palace, behind closed doors, the mood was a mix of euphoria and anguish.

"Viva Italia, sir... a great day..." greets a public servant carrying papers.
"Well said. It is a glorious victory for our nation..." answers the Prime Minister with a weak smile.
"Indeed. I'm sorry to bother you at this time, but... Sir, would you like to review these documents? It is rather urgent."
"What is it about...?"

The assistant hands over a thick folder with papers: the Italian debt after the war.

RCmVG.jpg


The Prime minister sighs...

Now another chapter in the Italian history has to begin: the rebuilding of the economy...
 
Great to see you back Planck! I love and miss your Brasil AAR! That was you, right?

What does the second decision do? Does it "annex" all foreign-built factories in your country?
 
Great to see you back Planck! I love and miss your Brasil AAR! That was you, right?

What does the second decision do? Does it "annex" all foreign-built factories in your country?

Yep, thanks :)

And yes, the decision "Seize means of production" nationalises all factories built by foreigners in your country. The requirement is that you cannot be a sphereling of a Great Power.
 
Trentino should be a seperate state so you don't have the problem you had.

Rest of the AAR is great. Didn't think you'd make it for a second.

Trent and Bozen are indeed part of a separate state with Italian Cores after the decision (South Tirol), I just added the rest of Tirol because I wanted and could take the infamy :p Of course I could have also tried to generate an "Acquire state" CB and might have gotten away with less infamy too (or none if I wasn't discovered).
 
Very cool! The Swiss Keiserslautern made me laugh!

Glad to see that my advice on Italian party names has been taken up! :D

Also, it's quite weird to see the "Partito Repubblicano" (Mazzini-an ideology) as the initial ruling party of the newly formed monarchy, unless it's been changed by the player for whatever reason on the first day! It should be the "Destra Storica" or the "Destra Liberale" (conservative) whatever decision the developers have taken about naming when receiving my suggestion.

But who cares: this, the AAR and everything in AHD are so awesome anyways that I'll rush to buy/download it the next week!
 
Also, there should be a decision to move the Italian capital from Turin to Florence if Rome is not held, it makes more sense historically/geographically as this is what happened in 1864 to improve relationships with the French by "reassuring" Napoleon III that Rome was not an aim of the newly formed Italian state.

But again: who cares! :D

(And Turin is an awesome place btw.)
 
Sweet AAR! We are aiming to get one more AAR at least out this week. We'll see how busy people are :)
 
Awesome AAR! Can't help but wonder what those little tick boxes in the province screen are.

they are for marking the province as a rally point for constructed troops. the bottom one is for deciding if you want arriving armies to automatically merge together up to the supply limit of the province.

Its a bit like rally points for buildings in Starcraft II if you are familiar with that.
 
they are for marking the province as a rally point for constructed troops. the bottom one is for deciding if you want arriving armies to automatically merge together up to the supply limit of the province.

Its a bit like rally points for buildings in Starcraft II if you are familiar with that.

This is easily one of the single best features of AHD. Will do wonders for late game wars, in vanilla I usually hesitate to mobilize just because of the hassle to organize the troops.
 
This is easily one of the single best features of AHD. Will do wonders for late game wars, in vanilla I usually hesitate to mobilize just because of the hassle to organize the troops.

I suspect one of the things people will notice about AHD is how many task, like the one you describe, are much easier and as a result you spend more time actually playing and less time doing repetitive stuff.
 
I suspect one of the things people will notice about AHD is how many task, like the one you describe, are much easier and as a result you spend more time actually playing and less time doing repetitive stuff.

And thus Victoria 2 evolved into a better game :)