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On the Funeral of Queen Milena I.
My people,
like you I am still in shock and in mourning at the sudden death of my beloved grandmother, Queen Milena I., who led our country through decades of peace and prosperity. We have received condolences from all over the world and I dare say there is no human alive who does not know about her and her deeds. Her whole life she fought for humanity and for the betterment of the world.
Though I was not born when she rose to the throne of then Bohemia-Moravia after dissolvement of the short-lived Danubian Federation I am still in awe of her fighting spirit as she took up arms personally and with great risks. She led our country through the First World War and it's destruction to the dawn of transcendancy and modernity. Though some of her agendas seem queer to us she was just far ahead of her time but still remained human at heart. She was our guiding light in a world of darkness. And even when she led us into prosperity she would not stop.
I do not understand where her powers derived from but while she was the unifying symbol of our nation - and she made us a nation up to the point where the terms of Slowak, Czech, Moravian and Sudete are spectres of the past and we now feel as one people, as Czechoslovakians - and the mother to all, she also managed to be a mother, a wife and a grandmother with time and love and wisdom. She was a mistress of time and now that she is gone time runs faster and less filled with achievement and progress.
There will be books describing her life and films made in honor of her, but far more important will be our personal memories of her because they are in our heart and we will never forget her. As she spoke for peace and unity for mankind at the first session of the United Nations she called for prosperity and peace for all peoples and for everyone. And even though she has ascended to heaven the fight is not over. We have to carry on her ideas and ideals, her light, for all of humanity until poverty, war, hunger and discrimination are but a nightmare from which we awakened and recovered.
One day Grandma told me that when we will be dead people will actually wonder how we said this and that. But she told me that this was not important at all. She told me that all she did was listening to her heart and that no words can describe what we experience while listening to our heart, to God and to transcendancy. But as long as we listen we will find strength and hope to go on and make the world a better place.
So I call to all of you, in memory of my Grandmother, of Milena Jesenská to listen some few silent minutes to your hearts to find the strength to go on. . . God will bless you as he had before by granting her to us for all that time.
Queen FRANTIŠKA I. of Czechoslovakia
Was a lot of fun, sad that all games must one day end and thanks a ton to all the GMs and to Fry.
The short-lived Fascist Dictatorship of Siam and the Unwillingly Socialist Communes of Siam were so unmemorable that none of even the most niche archaeologists and historians took note of their existence and all official documents with any mention of them presumably ended up as toilet paper and fuel.
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Venezuela, 1926-1950
1926 saw the reelection of President Gomez to his second term under the Venezuelan Constitution. The first four years of that term were dominated by the conflict in Colombia in which the Venezuelan and Brazilian forces gradually pushed back the Colombian army. Bogota was taken in 1928, but it took two additional years of conflict before most of the Communist forces were defeated.
During the war the Venezuelan government drastically expanded is control over the economy, now dominated by numerous large government firms in addition to the giants of PDVSA, CASA, and DIANCA. The result was rapid industrialization with Venezuela becoming a major supplier of heavy industrial goods to the every growing Brazilian economy. Profits from the industrialization and from the rising demand for oil paid for many government programs, including housing, public education, and a large hydro power project that helped provide electricity to most of the country.
A lot of money was spent on the incorporation of Colombia into Venezuela. Being significantly poorer Colombia relied on Venezuelan economic development throughout most of the period. The new Constitution of the United States of Venezuela allowed for only a single Presidential term, but Gomez insisted that his previous terms, served as President of the Republic of Venezuela, did not count. He won a closely contested election in 1933, but passed away in 1935, leaving a mixed legacy of progress and authoritarianism.
Successive administrations alternated between liberal and conservative ones, both all worked towards South American integration through LoSAN. Venezuela became a leading member of the block, a founding member of the South Atlantic Treaty Organization and a strong voice for South American involvement in the World. The country maintained its strong anti-USA position, repeatedly demanding the decolonization of the Caribbean and playing a leading role in the deteriorating relations between USA and South America.
Having stayed out of World War II the country enters the second half of the century poised to be a leader in the South American integration project that will hopefully, one day, lead to a unified South American State that will lead the way for all other countries of the World.
1926 saw the reelection of President Gomez to his second term under the Venezuelan Constitution. The first four years of that term were dominated by the conflict in Colombia in which the Venezuelan and Brazilian forces gradually pushed back the Colombian army. Bogota was taken in 1928, but it took two additional years of conflict before most of the Communist forces were defeated.
During the war the Venezuelan government drastically expanded is control over the economy, now dominated by numerous large government firms in addition to the giants of PDVSA, CASA, and DIANCA. The result was rapid industrialization with Venezuela becoming a major supplier of heavy industrial goods to the every growing Brazilian economy. Profits from the industrialization and from the rising demand for oil paid for many government programs, including housing, public education, and a large hydro power project that helped provide electricity to most of the country.
A lot of money was spent on the incorporation of Colombia into Venezuela. Being significantly poorer Colombia relied on Venezuelan economic development throughout most of the period. The new Constitution of the United States of Venezuela allowed for only a single Presidential term, but Gomez insisted that his previous terms, served as President of the Republic of Venezuela, did not count. He won a closely contested election in 1933, but passed away in 1935, leaving a mixed legacy of progress and authoritarianism.
Successive administrations alternated between liberal and conservative ones, both all worked towards South American integration through LoSAN. Venezuela became a leading member of the block, a founding member of the South Atlantic Treaty Organization and a strong voice for South American involvement in the World. The country maintained its strong anti-USA position, repeatedly demanding the decolonization of the Caribbean and playing a leading role in the deteriorating relations between USA and South America.
Having stayed out of World War II the country enters the second half of the century poised to be a leader in the South American integration project that will hopefully, one day, lead to a unified South American State that will lead the way for all other countries of the World.
Despite being over 20 Years since the fall of the Ukrainian Nationalist Republic resistance by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army led by the Former West Ukrainian Army member George continues to cause chaos within Soviet Occupied Ukraine. With a Number of Ex Ukrainian Free Army Veterans from the First war of Ukrainian Independence and with a rump Ukrainian National Republic hiding in a number of small villages in the Pinsk Marshes they continue to launch daring raids including briefly seizing an Arsenal in Kiev and making off with a number of weapons. More recently they are said to have been joined by a group of Chinese Freedom fighters led by the Son of the Last Qing Emperor who having escaped from Beijing mere hours before the Japanese hordes overran the city formed a small group of Qing Loyalists who after the rise of Communism in China were forced into Russia and eventually fleeing from roving red army units found themselves in the midst of the Pinsk Marshes and joined forces with the Ukrainian Insurgent army in the hope that an independent Ukraine would aid his struggle to regain his birth right. Since then the Ukrainian Insurgent Army has become home to a number of relatives or descendants of fallen lines of kings or nobles or dictators with a number of descendants of Genghis Khan, three Maratha Princes, several relatives of the Moroccan Sultan, a direct male descendant of Muhammad Ali, several ex Argentinian dictators, an Ex Mexican Dictator and a man convinced he is the rightful heir to Sparta. This seemingly adhoc mix of people has somehow managed to form one of the largest and best armed resistances to Soviet rule with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army actually owning one Surplus Soviet Tank which is currently stuck in Mud within their Capital in the Pinsk Marshes. At least according to half the Occupying Soviet soldiers. The other half have been killed by the Ukrainian Nationalists over the past 20 or so years.
Chile "The Best of the Andes," 1926-1950
Following reelection, President Borgoño continued his policy of modernising the Army and Navy; the conflict with Colombia greatly expedited the costs of those advancements (as the Brazilians were rather eager to help train the Chilean forces). He also made some efforts to improve the hydroelectric facilities over the course of his second administration, but as the war became more brutal and prolonged, his attention was eventually drawn northwards entirely.
Following the 1930 election of Jorge Alessandri (son of former Presidential candidate Arturo Alessandri), a moderate member of the National Party, and the conclusion of the Colombian War in early 1931, the Republic of Chile returned to its domestic focus; over the course of the next five years, the Chilean education system was revamped and improved drastically (literacy rose from 79% in 1930 to 91% in 1935, and the number of University graduates a year more than doubled), taxes were reduced (which lead to 7-9% GDP growth throughout the 30's), and the hydroelectric industry continued to boom. Alessandri was easily reelected in 1935, and his second administration saw continued growth, particularly in the aviation industry.
In 1940, Manuel Montt Lehuedé (also of the National Party) was elected president; during his administration, the Chilean economy experienced a major downturn as a result of the coup in Argentina. Chile and the new Argentinean regime twice came to close blows, and Lehuedé's drastic increase in military spending did little to help matters. In the 1945 election, he was beaten by Gabriel González Videla.
Incumbent Videla is the first Radical president of Chile, and the first president not from the National Party in almost four decades; since his election five years ago, he has implemented labour reform, continued investments in aviation, hydro-electrics, and education, and has thawed relations with the military regime in Argentina; however, his 1949 tax reform, which saw significant increases in corporate taxes, led to a mild recession and his defeat in the past election.
Admiral Daniel Palomino (National Party) won with 53% of the vote in the last election, and is slated to enter office in March, 1951. He ran on a campaign of lower taxes, peace with Argentina, and renewed growth in the Chilean economy.
Following reelection, President Borgoño continued his policy of modernising the Army and Navy; the conflict with Colombia greatly expedited the costs of those advancements (as the Brazilians were rather eager to help train the Chilean forces). He also made some efforts to improve the hydroelectric facilities over the course of his second administration, but as the war became more brutal and prolonged, his attention was eventually drawn northwards entirely.
Following the 1930 election of Jorge Alessandri (son of former Presidential candidate Arturo Alessandri), a moderate member of the National Party, and the conclusion of the Colombian War in early 1931, the Republic of Chile returned to its domestic focus; over the course of the next five years, the Chilean education system was revamped and improved drastically (literacy rose from 79% in 1930 to 91% in 1935, and the number of University graduates a year more than doubled), taxes were reduced (which lead to 7-9% GDP growth throughout the 30's), and the hydroelectric industry continued to boom. Alessandri was easily reelected in 1935, and his second administration saw continued growth, particularly in the aviation industry.
In 1940, Manuel Montt Lehuedé (also of the National Party) was elected president; during his administration, the Chilean economy experienced a major downturn as a result of the coup in Argentina. Chile and the new Argentinean regime twice came to close blows, and Lehuedé's drastic increase in military spending did little to help matters. In the 1945 election, he was beaten by Gabriel González Videla.
Incumbent Videla is the first Radical president of Chile, and the first president not from the National Party in almost four decades; since his election five years ago, he has implemented labour reform, continued investments in aviation, hydro-electrics, and education, and has thawed relations with the military regime in Argentina; however, his 1949 tax reform, which saw significant increases in corporate taxes, led to a mild recession and his defeat in the past election.
Admiral Daniel Palomino (National Party) won with 53% of the vote in the last election, and is slated to enter office in March, 1951. He ran on a campaign of lower taxes, peace with Argentina, and renewed growth in the Chilean economy.
Thanks Fry, for a great game! It was a pleasure to be a part of! Also, thank you to all GMs!
Awesome update, wonderful game, great players, glorious China and perfect ending. Looking forward to 1861.
The United States of America 1926-1950
The first half of the twentieth century marked a period of unrivaled growth and prosperity for the United States of America. The American continent was a hub of manufacturing and technological development for the entire world, and a beacon of democracy for all the world.
During President Coolidge’s administration, the nation’s economy exploded in size as the administration concentrated on various infrastructure projects. The nation built several hydro-electric dams around the entire nation ensuring a cheap and plentiful supply of electricity for the nation as she grew. The presence of an abundance of cheap electrical power enabled American companies to dominate in the field of electrical machinery, an advantage that not only lowered manufacturing costs but also enabled every American home to own various labor saving devices, including vacuums, dishwashers, and mechanical laundry equipment decades before they were common in other nations. It also improved the nation’s connectedness by powering through the advent of television and electronic signaling equipment. This power would also enable the nation to act upon the information garnered during the 1910s to construct the beginnings of a system of underground cities that would primarily be used for research and development far from the prying eyes of non-Americans and their close allies. He also aided in improving the efficiency of American agriculture by subsidizing the purchase of modern agricultural equipment and government provided farmer’s education sessions across the nation, greatly increasing the nation’s agricultural output – such that by 1950, 5% of the nations population produced enough food to feed the nation twice over, with the remainder being exported. His presidency also saw the formation of several of the first commercial airlines, serving destinations across the nation. He also oversaw the enacting of a federal anti-lynching law, and through his policies destroyed the influence of the Ku Klux Klan. He presided over the admission of the state of Hawaii covering the United State’s central Pacific holdings (and the Roosevelt Archipelago), and the creation of the special Federal District of Panama. Internationally, he hosted the Pan American Conference in Havana, Cuba where the powers of the North and South agreed to the passage of a treaty stimulating trade among the American nations and a harmonization of regulations, the first steps to a common market for all the Americas. His administration also saw the occupation of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, ostensibly to protect them from foreign influence after they defaulted on their loans.
President Coolidge following the Pan American Conference
Following the Coolidge years, Herbert Hoover was elected to the presidency. Hoover would be remembered for his great investments in the nation’s future prosperity. He worked tirelessly to streamline the nation’s bureaucracy, making it one of the world’s most efficient governments. He also worked to reform the tax code, creating the simplest tax system in the world with a flat 10% federal income tax, starting at number such that those below the poverty line would pay no taxes, and a 5% federal sales tax for individuals, and 15% overall rate for corporations, ensuring, as he put it, taxes could be done on the back of a postcard and everyone paid their fair share. He also signed legislation setting aside over 5,000,000 acres of public land for the nation parks and forests. His crowning achievement was however his poverty abatement program. Under this program higher education was opened to all, funded by government largess. Furthermore, he ordered the expansion of the underground cities to provide cheap and plentiful housing in major cities and drastically improved the living standards of those who formerly lived in slums. He also dramatically increased the nation’s research budget, such that the nation out spent its nearest rival by over five times per capita. The inventions created through this funding included the world’s first electronic computer, radar, microwaves, and a host of other firsts. Though the nation was not the first to successfully harness nuclear power, it would be the first to harness the power of the atom on a commercial scale. Hoover’s tolerance and belief in civil rights was exemplified through the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1927, which granted full citizenship to the nation’s Native Americans, and his Vice President Charles Curtis, the nation’s first Native American Vice President. However, his goal was for minorities to be assimilated in the broader American culture, a measure that was by and large successful following his educational policies. Hoover would preside over the Admission of the States of Micronesia and Alaska to the United States of America. Internationally, he negotiated and signed the St. Lawrence Seaway treaty that provided for navigation of the seaway and Great Lakes and greatly increased shipping and trade. He would spend several weeks touring the nations of LoSAN and working to formalize a common trade area between the North and South. He also saw the signing of the Atlantic Treaty between the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, and the Pacific Treaty with Japan and Australia. These two treaties would provide for the development of increased treaty among the involved nations and served to increase cooperation among them.
President Hoover dedicates himself to his nation.
The Second World War would prove an interesting period in the history of the United States of America. America entered the war on the side of the German Empire in the belief that through American aid the German Empire could crush the Union of Communes. It was this action alone that would lead to the election of Al Smith over the Senator John Blaine of Wisconsin in 1942. Al Smith promised American lives would not be “wasted on the fields of Europe again,” and as a result, the war largely proved a distraction as the nation mostly concentrated on Western Hemisphere and sending vast quantities of material aid to her allies. Intriguingly despite being on opposing sides during World War II, the United States was never formally at war with the United Kingdom, indeed the nations continued to trade and cooperate, pursuant to the Atlantic Treaty previously signed. The most poignant example of this would be the development of the world’s first jet fighter and the world’s first nuclear propulsion unit for ships. As no nation she fought possessed the naval power to attack her, Al Smith negotiated Peace with Honor for the nation, stating “It would be impossible for the United States to ever loose in a war to which she dedicated herself.” The loss proved deeply troubling to him and prompted his resignation following ratification of the treaty. His vice president Franklin D. Roosevelt assumed the office of president in June of 1943.
Vice President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, together at a joint Anglo-American training exercise in the North Atlantic
FDR’s would serve out the remainder of Smith’s term, before retiring from public life in 1946, citing “health reasons.” Internationally, FDR worked tireless to strengthen the bond of the between the English speaking nations of the world. Of particular note was the treaty of North American Unification would saw the United States of America, the Canadian Republic, the Dominion of Quebec, and the Newfoundland and Labrador incorporated into the nation. He also oversaw the annexation of Haiti and the Dominican Republic to the Union. This would create the world’s largest nation covering over 20,225,000 sq km, and would represent the largest expansion of the nation in both percentage and total size. These actions would bring 15 new states in the Union, the most under any president. Seeing the devastation the war brought to Europe, the United States sought to bolster its allies in their fight against communism and ensure they would not fall to the red menace. In particular, he created close treaties with the new German state and Japan, aimed at containing the communist threat. Domestically, upon hearing of the Israeli atom bomb, FDR order the expansion of the underground cities, ensuring that 90% of the population could be protected from a nuclear attack, and the construction of protected underground transit routes between them. He would also work to expand the educational legacy left by his predecessors, continuing to improve the American educational system and increasing research funding even further. This would lead such advances as computers usable at the commercial scale, color television, and a host of other innovations. He would also strive to pass several key pieces of civil rights legislation, including ending segregation in the armed services.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the North American Union Treaty
1946 saw the election of President Eisenhower on his platform of a new “Era of Peace and Prosperity.” He would preside over the induction of the Philippines and Panama as states, giving the nation a total of 68 states in 1948. When he heard of the Polish/Czech Rocket, he quickly responded the creation of NASA and gave them the goals of launching a satellite by 1951, putting a man in space by 1955 and a man on the moon by 1964. His presidency also saw the launch of the world’s first nuclear power super carrier, nuclear capable IBCMs, and ballistic missile nuclear submarine, to ward off the communist threat. However, by far the largest project to occur during his presidency was the Interstate Highway System to connect the cities of the nation, facilitating travel between via car. His presidency also saw increasing numbers of Americans take to the skies in new jet airliners. Internationally, he involved the United States in the Congolese Civil War, hoping to restore a peace to the region not seen since its time as a member of the American Commonwealth.
President Dwight Eisenhower
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You were banned from the thread (http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?606486-Forum-Game-World-in-Revolution-1900&p=15154297&viewfull=1#post15154297) and you chose to post and troll anyways.
You are now banned.
If at any time you are un-banned, you remain banned from the OT Games Forum.
Though had differences with Fry in the past, this was by far the best WiR ever! Thanks Fry, the GM's and the players for all the fun 
Alfonso XIII Bourbon
His Royal Majesty the King of Spain, Grand Prince of Morocco
b. 17 May 1886
reigned 1902-1922
His Royal Majesty the King of Spain, Grand Prince of Morocco
b. 17 May 1886
reigned 1902-1922
Alfonso XIII Bourbon (b. 17 May 1886) is a Spanish politician, diplomat, and statesman who, from 1902 to 1922, reigned as the King of Spain. Additionally, from 1918 to 1922, he also reigned as the Grand Prince of Morocco. The reign of Alfonso is largely controversial to this day, but remains among the most eventful years in recent Spanish history, as well as the most influential. He is often regarded as both one of the greatest modern Spanish monarchs, as well as one of the worst. While he granted to Spanish women the right to vote, headed the rebuilding of the Spanish economy, and made Spain a great power, he also suspended the Constitution numerous times, and even came very close to becoming an absolute monarch.
Born in Madrid in 1886 several months after the death of his own father, he reached his majority at the age of 16 in 1902. By this time, the economy of Spain was faltering, the military was severely outdated, and the country had fallen very far since the 18th century. The defeat at the hands of the United States in 1898 was also a devastating blow to Spanish military prestige and economic capability (or what was left of it). In short, Alfonso inherited a broken kingdom.
To fix the problems of a massive budgetary deficit, Alfonso supported in the Royal Parliament a flat tax bill that would appease both Liberals and Conservatives while, it was hoped, the deficit could be shrunk. This failed disastrously, however, as the flat tax rate was too high itself and smaller, lower-income individuals suffered greatly. This tax was largely repealed by the Progressive Tax of 1903, which was much more successful; however, a deficit still existed.
As war raged on the Continent of Europe, Alfonso asserted that Spain would remain neutral, and, despite shortfalls in the budget, supported a build-up in the size and organization of the Spanish Army as a purported defensive measure against any possible hostile actions from foreign nations. By 1904, however, the United States and the United Kingdom joined the Entente in their war against the Central Powers, and Spain sided alongside the democracies. The Spanish people were mobilized, and over 400,000 Spanish conscripts served on the frontlines in Elsass-Lothringen. By the time the war ended, over 20,000 Spaniards were among those that the Allies lost in the battle against the expansive German Empire.
Following the war, attempts to kick-start the ailing Spanish economy by investing in automobile factories failed; similarly, Madrid came close to winning the nomination for the 1908 Summer Olympics, but lost in the end to London. However, good news is had when Spain becomes a founding member of ADEN (the Atlantic Defense and Economic Network); Spain, under the guidance of Alfonso, would later abandon this project just two years later after the total failure of the Network.
With the national deficit now repaired, and the treasury now filling with money, Alfonso embarked upon possibly the greatest project of his entire reign: the rebuilding of the Spanish Armada. The Spanish Naval Act of 1909 sweeps through Parliament, bringing new research to the Navy. New gun barrels were developed and installed on aging warships, and the Great Education Reform later in the same year greatly improved the national literacy rate as more and more Spaniards received a better and more affordable education. However, when Alfonso pushed for further investment into an expanding navy, the Parliament refused it on the grounds of militarization: Alfonso then suspended the Spanish Constitution and dissolved Parliament while at the same time instituting secret ballots, in the hopes that people would not be easily bribed into voting for one particular party, thereby ending the turno system.
However, when the Great Depression began at the beginning of a new decade, Alfonso supported measures that would quickly get many people back to work in an attempt to stimulate the economy. He laid down the groundworks for a massive railroad infrastructure system nationwide, while also supporting the building of large industrial sectors in many of Spain's rapidly growing cities. While this bankrupted the Spanish treasury and sent them heavily into debt, it put many people back to work and created positive GDP growth for the first time in several years. Also during this time, the hulls of five dreadnoughts and dozens of smaller ships were laid down in Spanish shipyards, all a part of Alfonso's grand dream of making the Spanish Royal Navy one of the world's great navies.
Alfonso also aided in establishing a balanced welfare program. When the Socialists gained a brief majority in the Parliament in a short snap election in 1912, they instituted a reckless welfare program that created an even larger deficit. Alfonso guided the Conservative and Liberal parties together into the Party of King and Country, ousted the Socialists from power, and refined the welfare program to achieve maximum effectiveness.
When Alfonso's attempts at political unity failed in the Summer of 1913 - following an incident where the Head of the Fascist Party also struck the King with a letter opener - Alfonso had Parliament suspended, all of its members arrested, and began working on a new constitution that called for all powers to be vested in himself. After outrage nationwide from hundreds of thousands of people, Alfonso reinstated the Parliament, pardoned the MPs, and instead drafted a newer constitution in 1914, guaranteeing universal human rights and civil liberties, and, above all, giving the vote to males over 20 and women over 29. Spain was the second country to do so - behind the Netherlands, and ahead of the United States by just weeks.
In 1915, Alfonso was wed to Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, and he fathered a child, Juan Carlos, the following year. In 1918, following a border incident where Moroccan militia crossed the border and attacked Spanish settlements in Africa, Morocco was incorporated into Spain as a Grand Principality, with Alfonso as Grand Prince. The Moroccans were given equal opportunity to all Spaniards and all previous inhabitants of the country. Hailed as a great liberal and democrat, pride and trust in both Alfonso and the government swelled throughout Spain, and the country seemed to reach its golden era. The economy was rapidly growing, the quality of life was a hundredfold higher than it was when Alfonso took the throne, Madrid was the host of the 1916 Summer Olympics, and Spain was rapidly becoming known as one of the freest and most democratic countries in the world. However, this would not last.
Alfonso declared Spain's neutrality in the new World War, and offered many times to host peace summits in his palace in Madrid, calls which were ignored by all belligerents. This neutrality was not to last long; following the spread of communist ideology on the airwaves through the BBC, the Communists in Parliament sided with Catalan nationalists, demanding protection for the Communist party and semi-autonomy for the Catalan people. Alfonso and the Party of King and Country opposed such terms, and after fierce bickering, the Communists and Catalans declared independence from the Spanish Crown. Alfonso made calls for peace and reconciliation, but they went unheeded. The Spanish Civil War had begun.
Alfonso ordered full mobilization and had the Royal Army Command formulate a plan to fight the enemy. However, disaster struck: the plans of the Army (calling for a double-envelopment of the Communist-Catalan lines) mysteriously fell into the hands of the Catalan field officers, who used it to deadly effect, capturing many thousands of Loyalist soldiers and killing and wounding many more. By the next year, 1920, Alfonso called for the creation of the Spanish Foreign Legion, whose ranks were rapidly filled by men from Greece, South Africa, the United States, and elsewhere. Talks began with Argentine diplomats for a large interest-free gift of golf bullion to support the war effort. Both American and British warships were dispatched to blockade and bombard Communist Portugal. Spain was receiving massive foreign support, but it would not do. Further offensives against Portugal and Catalonia saw great success, but when Catalonia was occupied and then annexed by the French Communes, the war was turned on its head. Spanish soldiers, used to fighting rebels and guerrilla fighters, were now fighting an army that had once been trained and equip to fight the German Army, arguably the best army in the world. Spanish forces held valiantly but performed, nonetheless, comparatively poorly. Having fallen into a deep depression, Alfonso declared his abdication in 1922 in favor of his son, Juan Carlos I, declaring his aging mother the regent for his son.
When Spain fell to communism barely two years later, Alfonso, who had gone into exile in Argentina, had the royal family evacuated from Galicia, the final stronghold of anti-communist sentiment; the family split, with some going with Alfonso to Argentina, while the rest traveled to the United States. In the following years, Alfonso became a traveling speaker, advocating civil liberties and human rights, as well as general democratization. As of 1950, at the age of 64, an aging Alfonso has wrote several memoirs and autobiographies, and, following the collapse of the Argentine government in 1937, he and his family remnants moved entirely to the United States. He has declared faithfully that the country is "his second home", and continues advocating for freedom and liberty.
The turbulent and eventful reign of Alfonso started and ended in the same way: the economy was ruined and national unity was nonexistent. Though he saw his greatest success during the "golden era" in the several years before the Civil War, Alfonso, widely hailed as both a democrat and a dictator, can (and rightfully so) be argued as either Spain's greatest monarch, or Spain's worst.
Fun, confusing, challenging, exciting, etc. Was a great game, and I'm sad to see it end. After all this, I'm going to have to take a break from WiR. Good luck with the new games to come, I'll be watching If you ever need someone to play as a non-major nation, just ask as I'll take them over the UK any day again.
Was a great game, and I'm sad to see it end. After all this, I'm going to have to take a break from WiR. Good luck with the new games to come, I'll be watching If you ever need someone to play as a non-major nation, just ask as I'll take them over the UK any day again.