The Strength of Spain (A Spanish KR AAR)

Part I -A January Meeting​

El Escorial Palace -Outskirts of Madrid
1.1.1936
King Alfonso XIII woke at his usual early time of about half past 6 in the morning, he had always done so since he was just a young prince. He used to run round the gardens of the great palaces of Spain and cause headaches for his guards and servants alike who had to try and find him among the plants in the Mediterranean dawn. Nowadays however he got up early for more serious matters. His personal physician came to him after he had quickly washed and put on some informal clothes (although, they would be considered far to posh for the working class man of Barcelona or Cadiz ). His physician was a middle age Swiss doctor called Gustav who was apparently a leading expert in problems with the brain.1.Alfonso suffered crippling pains in the head; he always had ever since he fell down a steep set of stone steps in Havana when he was on a royal visit when he was about 8. Just weeks later after that accident the explosion of the USS Maine in the harbor took place, an event which led to the war between his great kingdom and the upstart capitalists. Alfonso always had is his suspicions that it was no accident that the Maine exploded yet he had no proof and probably never would. Gustav finished administering the injections and tonics which took the pains edge off for about 12 hours.

Alfonso also woke up early on this day because his loyal Prime minster, General Quinones, had requested that he looked at the military situation of his kingdom ready for the new year (Alfonso was not an absolute monarchy like his predecessors from century's passed however he did enjoy more power than his recently deposed British counterpart). Alfonso, still slightly giddy from the medicine, set off to the Hall of Battles in the Heart of El Escorial. The Hall had been built to show the joint Castile-Argon victory over the Muslim moors in the 15th/16th century, very fitting for what was about to be discussed.

7:30

"Your Highness" said Quinones in greeting. He said it with excitement; yet in a more rough voice than usual as he had been out celebrating the new year until about 4 hours ago. As a consequence suffered little sleep before being driven to the king to discuss the military.

The Chief of staff, General Fidel Arrondo, and the Armaments Minster, General German Yuste (who were loyal to the monarchy close to the point of fanaticism), didn't bow like Quinones but saluted in the old military style. They hadn't bother with the festivities and instead decided to come to the palace after dinner the night before to take command of the guard.

"Gentlemen, let us begin. Shall we start with the Navy?" Asked the king to his subjects with a smile on his face as he sat at the grand table which had several maps and reports strewn over it.


"Yes your highness, straight away!" said Arrondo. "As of last night we have about half the Fleet stationed at Cadiz ,it can be battle ready within 4 hours and secure the straights within 5".


"As for the rest" continued Arrondo, "We have the Battle Ships and more of the heavier ships up at Coruna. They can be out into the Bay of Biscay in about 7 hours" He said with a slight proud smile on his face.


"We also have a small collection of auxiliary's and subs based in Morocco" added Quinones helpfully.

The King had a small frown building on his face; however continued with the request to see the air force (though small compared to the french or German counterparts it was still large considering Spain's standing in the world).


"Our fighters are on the east coas..." stuttered a air force adviser , Alfonso butted in "Move them to the north; we don't want the french to surprise us... and next time address me properly."



The Bombers are on stand by as usual, the Me 987's are ready to hit anything that breaks through the navy in the straights,Your Highness" said Arrondo quickly before the king could get more disgruntled.

"Then that leaves the army" said Alfonso, now with an even larger frown and a sigh, and it wasn't about the squadron leader's lack of respect either.


"This is Northern Command Sir" said Quinones as he handed the King a report with troops numbers and rough estimates on level of training.


"Southern" said Quinones handing him another sheet of paper.


"And Colonial Command your Highness" handing him a final sheet.

Alfonso felt angered by this meeting, more so than he usually experienced, he was hardly the expected joy at 8 o'clock on the first of January

"Well Gentlemen this Information is useful ...yes, but it shows what a travesty my armed forces are in!" throwing Quinones reports to the floor and then stomped on them. The Royal Guards stationed around the room suddenly woke up from there hangover fueled semi-slumbers and stood to attention as if a German Kaiser or Russian Tzar was walking past them.

"Under Crewed ships, desertions in the army, Planes which aren't even fueled , and you talk about expansion! we couldn't even defend the homeland from the Norwegians! Never mind the French!"


More Royal guards came rushing into the room thinking the king was under attack rather than loosing his temper.

The King then rounded upon on his Armaments Minster "Yuste! you better get this manpower shortage fixed in the next few months or you will be out of a job and a country to live in, I hear Rome is nice in April. And if those men don't get the correct equipment your both going!" Turning on Arrondo as well.


The Generals who are used to shouting down to subordinates both went white with fear of the normally relatively docile king's rage, in unison they both uttered "yes your Highness, your will is my command" and hurried out of the hall fearing a harsher treatment.

Quinones was filling his briefcase with as many documents as he could fit as the king turned to face him, "you, you are just trying to run the country! You i have a bit more patience for, but i want my military turned around fast, no matter what!" shouted Alfonso, slumping into a chair. The drugs which Gustav gave him weren't holding up well as his head was now really sapping at his strength. "go Quinones...and next time don't drink as much." said Alfonso with a smirk.

"Yes, this is going to be a busy year." He thought to himself.


The Research and Development ordered after the meeting.


1 This was a reference to Carl Gustav a Swiss psychiatrist I find interesting

der Kriegsherr said:

Love this.
Will be following. Can't wait to see what you do with the war.



This almost had me falling from my chair with laughter

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Thanks alot im trying to judge the responce so all feed back is appreciated

Quick update : im gunna play the next bit tonight or tomorrow and have it written up by monday latest

Iv unplugged my laptop and computer to focus on my exams so updates will probably be weekly or a week and a half till late june

Part II 1936- A Year Of Uncertainty(i)​

Inside a Government Roll's Royce-Streets of Madrid
5.1.1936

It was the first time German and Quinones had met after there meeting with the King.


"Is it possible?" asked Quinones, staring out at the dusty streets of the capital. German looked quizzically at Quinones, they had been little spoken during the ride between the Palacio de las Cortes and the defense ministry.


"Is what possible?" He questioned.


"You know this whole manpower and desertion thing , is it possible to stop the men running? Every day i get reports that the syndicalists are gathering support in Barcelona and the pretender de Borbon is squawking louder then ever that the kings throne is rightfully his." German said nothing, instead he looked deep in thought as if an idea had struck him. Quinones didn't notice the subtle signs and continued spilling out his fears to his armaments minster.With so much tension it makes me wonder if its really possible to keep the numbers up! And worse with this big equipment push, if they defect with the latest anti air guns or artillery pieces that's just doubling the problem, if we pursue them they will just shoot down the new fighters which just makes it even worse!"


The British car rumbled through the side streets of the capital, it was a reliable thing besides being one of the last off the production line before the revolution on the home islands and the monarchists retreat to Canada. However it looked out of place amongst the growing number of unemployed who spent there time on street corners begging, German eventually turned to his prime minster "It can be solved but the reasons cant get out " He explained. Quinones knew what he was thinking and said nothing more, "But as for the overall undermanning issue i propose we cut back on upgrading for a while, maybe a month or two, until discipline has been reinstalled and then go back to the upgrades. This way we can limit the amount of defections and the loss of equipment.And before you ask yes Francisco can have his new ships, they're almost ready in any-case so its not like i was going to suggest to cancel them; it would cause more hassle than its worth." He continued with a smirk. "I will right up an official bill but I'll show you roughly what i was thinking." said the minster to Quinones as he rummaged in his bag for a pen and some paper.



They reached the defense ministry about 20 minutes later, the weak Spanish sun was starting to go down and would most likely set in the next 10 minutes. However when the two men who where trying to keep a low profile stepped out of the car they where shocked to be surrounded by a sea of foreign and domestic journalists, Quinones and German pressed their way up the stairs hearing words like "Russia " "Coup" and "Crisis". Quinones privately thought the worse and assumed Russia had tried to meddle with the kaisers puppets in the Baltic or the Ukraine. He then saw the foreign minster Fransisco Bonastre at the top of the steps asking for calm. Quinones and German reached him and over the roar of the reporters asked " What in all things Holy has happened!" Bonastre looked relived to see them and explained quickly that Alexander Kerensky had been assassinated and in the power vacuum in the hours after his death the aristocrats, who had been keeping a low profile since the civil war had rose up and seized the Duma, and places Moscow and St Petersburg under marshal law.

Quinones, armed with only the few words of his Foreign minster took to the top step and announced to the assembled media " My People! It is with great sadness that i hear of Kerensky's death , he was truly the glue that kept Russia together in this delicate time after their civil war! However what has happened in the palaces and mansions of St Petersburg also cannot be ignored. This coup as people are calling it may look like the worse thing that could happen to Russia, however I think we can look at the good side, at least it wasn't the pariahs of Lenin that struck first! Russia has always been the land of the ruling class and the peasants, its a system that worked and hopefully these aristocrats can sort out out the mess that Kerensky tried heroically to hold down! Thank you and that will be the only thing to comment on the matter for now!"



With that he strolled into the ministry at last with the two others quickly jogging to get in before the great doors closed.

El Escorial Palace -Outskirts of Madrid
10.3.1936
Quinones met with the Alfonso XIII, King of Spain after dinner in the Kings personal study. Quinones hadn't slept properly for the last 3 days and the bags under his eyes accompanied by small yawns didn't help him hide it.


"Good news or bad news your majesty? " said Quinones as he busied himself with the kings selection of wines, he did it without asking knowing the king wasn't a lover of alcohol due to his illness, but often received crate loads from foreign dignitary's which it would be rude to say no to.


"Good news i guess" said the King with a heavy sigh, by this point his daily medication had faded out and forced him not to move to much or risk a shooting pain on the back of his neck.
"Well" Started Quinones wine glass in hand. "De Borbon died last month if you didn't know, so Xavier, his son, now has even less of a branch to stand on,over this pathetic claim to your throne business!" Quinones took a sip of Tuscan wine, a gift from the pope when he visited 4 years ago. "And the navy reports their new toy is everything they dreamed it would be but now are whining for more, although that's probably not going to happen any time soon." suddenly serious and more stern he sat down next to his monarch. The man he never stoped admiring the resolve of.

"The economy has basically jumped off a cliff, Berlin is reporting the stock market isn't stopping its free fall any time soon and all the German business will always cut off the foreign ventures before any of the fatherland's." Quinones took a large gulp of the wine, he had never appreciated the fine art of wine tasting and wasn't going to start now.




ARE Canarias~Newest Heavy Cruiser in the Spanish Navy

"The economy has basically jumped off a cliff, Berlin is reporting the stock market isn't stopping its free fall any time soon and all the German business will always cut off the foreign ventures before any of the fatherland's." Quinones took a large gulp of the wine, he had never appreciated the fine art of wine tasting and wasn't going to start now.

"Is there anything we can do to protect Spain?" asked Alfonso with a slight wince of the pain
Quinones shook his head. "It all looked so good when they won the war, "oh come trade with us you need us and we need you!" it will be one big family, except it wasn't was it, it was just them conning half of Europe into sacrificing there economic freedom for the benefit for the people walking the streets of Dusseldorf and Strasbourg." He put the now empty glass down on the desk in front of them and looked at the weary king, it wasn't like the times past when the king had the answers and could solve any crisis, sometimes Quinones wished Alfonso had more power but he knew it was probably for the best that power was shared; at least it meant his beloved sovereign wouldn't be stressed to the point of madness. "I'm going to call a cabinet meeting tomorrow, see if we can at least blunt the damage of this mess on Spain, and i don't care if that means alienating the Germans."

And with that and a bow he left his tired King to his rest.


The Financial Crisis in Spain's eyes















Sorry for the small pictures id already played this bit and the next few bits to come before i noticed but ill try for the next round of game play anyway hope you enjoyed it so far

Part III 1936-A Year Of Uncertainty (ii)​

Inside El Escorial Palace
29.3.1936

"Yes i do think this is worth the king knowing, it his kingdom, his people and to an extent a threat to him. If you don't come with me Quin ill do it myself and then you explain to his Majesty why we okay-ed it but you couldn't be bothered to tell him." The minster of security stopped in the middle of the hall and looked down on the prime minster. Zuniga had worked for German intelligence in the Weltkrieg as an interrogator of captured colonial troops employed by the British and French he knew how to bend people to his will, even though he and the prime minster had the shared goal of making Spain great again they often didn't see eye to eye, he favored brute force rather than Quinones more diplomatic and calmer attitude. "Fine ill come with you." Said Quinones he knew there was no other option rather than delay the inevitable.


Five minutes later after walking the halls of the grand palace discussing how they where going to phrase what they had done they entered into the kings study (the same room that Quinones had given the private briefing to his Majesty on the economic crisis a few weeks ago). The King was already sitting down drinking a glass of cool water and staring at them as they knelt before him. He offered them both seats with a wave of his hand but Quinones instead stood to the side next to the drinks cabinet but didn't pull anything out of it nor offer Zungia one. Unphased by this slight insult Zungia took one of the seats and with a nod from the king he began.


"Your Majesty as I'm sure the Prime minster has briefed you a few times now on the economic situation but yesterday we have had a few developments" " Yes i understand that but what does this concern the minster of security? Your job is to make sure we are not all stabbed in our sleep." " Yes, however the Prime minster has made a deal with the devil! Hes agreed to give the eastern terrorists the go ahead to try some of there stupid strategy's to get us out of this mess caused by the Germans. My fear is this will give them an opportunity to spread more discontent and infiltrate our ranks." He passed him the mornings newspapers which had a massive picture of Joquin Julia the leader of CNT-FAI and Quinones shaking hands with smiles on there faces.



"Your Majesty if it will keep the peace we should try it never mind the economic implications that might come from it. What where we going to do ? Arrest them for saying they had an idea about the economy?"

"I think I agree with the Prime minster on this one if it will boost the economy and give people work why not give it a go." Said the king with half-smile. "Any other news? "

Quinones taken aback by the kings easiness but suspecting he had only recently had his medication and was in a slight delirious. "Well the pretenders to your throne are trying to pull off some economic plan" "But i doubt it will catch on." Said Zungia quickly, trying to keep in the conversation between the King and his favorite minister.

"Let me see." Said Alfonso suddenly fully alert and blowing Quinones theory about the medication out of the water. Zungia turned to page 5 of the paper and passed it to the King.




"Why aren't you acting against him ?" He said with a fair bit of venom in his voice "Well we have less reason to arrest him than we do for the anarchists, we cant arrest one without making it look like we are siding with the other." Quinones explained "and that's why i think we should have come down like a ton of bricks on both!" snarled Zungia. "Yes then what wait to see which one blows up our offices first? you cant stomp out terror you can only bring them to your side." Quinones muttered it was obvious he had lectured Zungia on this before they had met the King.


"Just leave it, like you said minster little will come of it" said Alfonso trying to stop he argument before it got too heated. Both of the politicians made to leave the room "However i want security tighter in the areas where both sides are working, i don't want a riot or something nastier on our hands because of our inaction." He then gave them permission to leave and he went back to drinking down his water.













Sorry about the delay but iv been doing exams and stuff but it should pick up a bit now. also sorry about the length but there isnt much going on in the early months and what there is its difficult to tie together properly in one update so i think its best it was in a few smaller chunks

Caramel95 said:

I was wondering if you was ever going to update! hahaha I'm liking this aar so far. Keep going at it.

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yer i realized i had so much work to do xD

Part III 1936-A Year Of Uncertainty (iii)​

Inside The Spanish Parliament
Evening of 27.4.1936

"We are at breaking point! The people are at breaking point! and the country is at breaking point! We can not maintain the current course of simply carrying on and pretending the economy is fine! How long before there is open warfare on the streets of Madrid and Barcelona? we can barely hold the city centers never mind the countryside outside! We agreed to get rid of Rivera because you prime minster promised to fix our economy now we are in a worse situation than i dare say our ancestors where in when Napoleon invaded !" Bellowed Carlos Lopez a representative from Malaga who was a successful director of the Spanish arm of the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers-Focker which had recently layed off its entire Spanish workforce in an effort to save German jobs

"I agree with Lopez! Quinones promised prosperity and all he has done is cuddled up to the Germans who now have turned there back on us!" Shouted general Vidal over the roar of approval of the representatives

Spain was technically a dictatorship under Quinones with guidance from the king however its hold on the people and democracy was pretty weak. There was only one party the "Spanish Peoples Protection Party" but the population could vote for which candidate from the party would represent them, the party itself wasn't particularly unified with the generals and admirals who automatically got a seat unified in more money to the military vs the loose band of ex-businessmen and wealthy nobles who pushed for more deregulation of the economy. (probably with the hidden motive to make themselves rich in the progress.) However when it came to crisis or scandal they could all quickly agree that it was Quinones fault.

The Coat of Arms of the Dukedom of Medina-Sidonia was the symbol of the "SPPP" in the first half of the 20th century

"Today's poll in the ABC say that almost 40% of people are out of work or at risk of loosing there jobs! How can the cabinet not have seen this! The other papers are saying there is a collapse of social order outside the city's with local militias and gangs terrorizing the towns and villages. I wish to put a motion into immediate effect that allows the army to be deployed to combat crimes against the people!" Roared Jose Gonzalez a admiral in charge of internal security in the colony's.


The level of dissent by the end of April



The collapse of Spain seems close at hand!


"Representatives, let me speak for one minute!" Quinones waited a few seconds for the booing to stop "I have created a plan with the help of the economics team which will save our great country! we have put together a package which will save Spain as we know it from a slow death and civil strife. We are going to cut back on the upgrading program, we don't need new tanks to keep order on the street as long as there is tanks on the street! I agree with Admiral Gonzalez we need to deploy the troops to trouble spot or risk them collapsing into anarchy. Back to my point on upgrading, I don't care how many of you resign that's whats happening the resources we are putting into new weapons can be diverted into creating jobs for the Spanish people! We can create a new industrial base upon which Spanish company's are the core! I reject the claim that I cuddled up to the Germans. What where we going to do trade with Ireland what an amazing trade deal we would get from that 20 fighter-bombers for a life time supply of potatoes for 20000 people? Grow up men we are in a bad situation but I promise you I will get us out of it like a phoenix!"


The plan that will save Spain!


With that Quinones calmly left the chamber and walked slowly to his office and locked the door and dimmed the lights. For the first time in almost 3 days he fell asleep, quietly and comfortably in his leather chair.


Short update again but dont worry things are about to get very interesting