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The Harp and Crown: An Irish AAR

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Enewald: 'Interesting' is one word for it! :eek: Perhaps Russia and Prussia intend to split it between them - a true Irish nightmare.

RGB: I imagine so. I'm considering cheating and giving China a little aid in civilising, toughen them up a bit - though if the Revolution happens that might just do it.

InnocentIII: Glad you like it so far. I'm always delighted to attract new readers and get their input. :)

matt12th: Heh. Well, here's your update. :D
 
Japan AND Korea?

Well done. Fighting on the home islands AND a land war in Asia. I hope you have enough MP.
 
You bad boy, surely Russia can't just stand by as you invade Korea?
 
The Korean War (Part I)
(1901 - 1902)​

neill.jpg

General Charles O'Neill​

"Easter in Seoul, Christmas in Tokyo."
- O'Donovan Rossa, in a letter to Gen. O'Neill.

"... and Saint Patrick's Day in Cloudcuckooland."
- General Charles O'Neill in a letter to his wife.

On paper General Charles O'Neill, hero of the China war and Commander in Chief in Shanghai had over 80,000 Irish soldiers at his command: the entire Irish Army presence in the Far East. More than enough to crush Korea and thwart Japan. Or rather it would have been if the reality was as favourable as that.

Firstly there was Hainan. The territories annexed from China had not yet been pacified but no one had expected the sheer scale of Chinese resistance to Irish rule especially General Laurence Loughlin the newly appointed military governor. In early December a huge rebellion had broken out and though General Loughlin was able to contain the fighting it was obvious that another revolt was only a matter of time. On the day war broke out Loughlin wired O'Neill and pessimistically informed his superior that in his (Loughlin's) opinion none of his 35,000+ soldiers could be spared from holding Hainan. True Loughlin was a man of boundless mediocrity but O’Neill did not have much choice but to write off these troops for the foreseeable future. It wasn’t that the island itself was so very valuable as that it was right beside Zhangjiang, silk port, naval base and the capital of the entire Irish Orient. Any danger to the pearl of the empire could not be contemplated so Loughlin's four divisions would take no part in the war - for now at least.

That left O'Neill with his three divisions in Shanghai plus the newly arrived 7th (Munster) Division. O'Neill's older divisions were China War veterans; tough as they were ugly and highly experienced but still under strength. The 7th on the other hand was full strength but totally green.

etain.jpg

RIS Etain, the most 'experienced' (or 'outdated') Irish ironclad afloat.​

The eight army divisions were not the only Irish military force in the Orient. The Royal Irish Navy had a presence too, a presence that again was stronger on paper. Five large warships lay at anchor in Zhangjiang and Shanghai but of these only the powerful 5,300-ton protected cruiser Derry was truly a modern war machine. Vice Admiral Cassidy was otherwise left with the ancient ironclads Cessair, Grainne, Etain and Morrigane. None of these ships was less than twenty years old and the venerable Etain had seen service at Massaua. True they had heavy guns but the rusting hulks were slow to fire and slow to sail. In theory they could be used for siege warfare against naval forts but they were quite useless for supporting the swift Derry. Fortunately neither Korea nor Japan had any modern warships at all but if the Russians or the Prussians (or both) got involved...

The first point of attack was the Ryukyu Islands. At the beginning of January 1902 the soldiers of the 7th Division easily occupied Amami and the guns of the Derry had sent any Japanese ship that came near straight to the bottom of the East China Sea. The handful of screw frigates and sailing ships the Japanese navy had in the area had learnt the hard way that they could not stand up to a first rank protected cruiser.

okinawa1902.png

By February 1902 the Irish had total control over the Ryukyu Islands.​

It was a bloodless victory (at least on land) and the Irish had taken less than a month to achieve their main objective. Okinawa was hers, the Japanese had been humbled and Irish naval strength reinforced in the eyes of the rest of the world. Where now?
Back in Dublin Murphy had been impressed by the speed of the Okinawa campaign and allowed himself to become convinced by O'Donovan Rossa and Holland that the Irish navy could keep Japan bottled up 'indefinitely' while the army annexed Korea. In fact if Korea fell sufficiently quickly - within eight months - Japan would be left with a fait acompli and have no choice but to accept Irish control of Okinawa.

Reinforced to four divisions by the returning 7th General O'Neill's began his campaign against Korea in March invading the island of Quelpart (Cheju)...
 
Jape: It was uncivilised much to my dissapointment (what I really want is a naval war) but I cheated and boosted it up to Civilised status so it can provide at least a bit of a threat.

RGB: Nonsense! It will be a cakewalk. ;)

KanaX: I guess we'll see. :)
 
Took Okinawa, but no peace yet?

And Japan never builds a navy >_<

But i'm sure you heard me say the same about France and Russia and whoever else. Vicky nations are bad at navy building.
 

The Korean War (Part II)
(1902 - 1903)

koreansoldiers.jpg

Korean soldiers with their Russian (!) military advisor.​

"Revolts reported in Pusan, Wosan and Ichon. 5th Division hard pressed at Sariwon. Another outbreak of malaria amongst the men. Rained last night. Situation much improved."
- From General O'Neill's diary, 1903.

The Irish soldiers landed in Korea in early spring with the scent of cherry blossom in the air. There was little organized opposition at first. The city of Kwangju peacefully capitulated to O'Neill on 4 April. A week later elements of the Irish cavalry had reached the outskirts of Pusan while O'Neill was leading the bulk of his army on Seoul. It was beginning to look like the war might be a quick one after all.

Then summer arrived and with it the weather. It rained and not just rain but rain, not the soft familiar drizzle of Ireland but the monsoons of the Orient. With rain came mud and heat and exhaustion, hard even for the China-war veterans but nightmarish to the young men of the 7th Division fresh from the alleyways of Cork and the farms of Kerry. April stretched into May and then into June. Seoul fell but only after a pitched battle with the Korean Imperial Cavalry. The Irish lads won of course but they could tell; the enemy was gaining a second wind even as the Irish wore themselves out.

In late May Loughlin had finally been persuaded to part with one of his precious divisions. On 24 June 8,000 fresh(ish) Irish troops landed far to the north and advanced on Kanggye. O'Neill hoped to relieve pressure on his men who were now strung out in a loose line north of Seoul. Increasingly it was not simply the front line Korean troops the Irish had to worry about but the partisans. At times it seemed like there were more armed Koreans behind his lines than in front.

emperorofkorea.jpg

The Korean Emperor.​

The Korean Emperor and his court had abandoned Seoul as soon as it became clear the city would fall. Safely relocating to far off Chongjing near the Russian border Emperor Gojong might as well have ruled from Mars as far as the Irish were concerned. But then even if he had been dropped into O'Neill's lap it was far from certain that the Irish would know what to do with him. What exactly did the Irish want with Korea?

Originally the idea had been to place a pro-Irish, anti-Russian puppet on the throne and this was still what William Martin Murphy was inclined for. Others in the Cabinet had begun to advocate outright annexation. O'Donovan Rossa had even suggested that King Patrick II take the title 'Emperor of Korea' - a cleverly patriotic move that would instantly elevate the Irish sovereign to the same rank as King Edward VII, the Guangxu Emperor and (most importantly) Czar Nicholas II of Russia. The king had not been informed of this in-Cabinet suggestion but he hardly needed to be: the Dublin newspapers were openly suggesting that Korea be permanently brought into the Irish empire. The cost being paid in men and money demanded no less.

The moderates on the other hand shuddered at the thought of trying to rule twenty million embittered Koreans. Had not Hainan (where Loughlin was still putting down rebellion) proven that conquered territory would need to be garrisoned? At the War Office the Army Chief of Staff General Kevin Walsh calculated that an annexed Korea would need a garrison of at least 100,000 soldiers over a period of ten years (assuming the Russians didn't invade).

The debates (and the fighting) continued through a hard winter as O'Neill's forces inched up the peninsula. Then in February 1903 the Irish suffered a huge blow. Not in Korea itself, but in Formosa. Japan had launched a successful invasion and with no troops to spare the island would probably be under total Japanese control by mid May. Formosa itself was not so important except in propaganda terms, but if the Japanese could take Formosa they could land in Shanghai or Ningbo or even try and link up with the Chinese rebels in Hainan.

Whatever happened, the war in Korea would have to end soon.

koreamarch1903.png

The Korean peninsula after 15 months of war.​
 
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RGB: True. I really hope Vicky 2 does better with this.

Still I have played ahead and the next few years are not totally avoid of sea battles. :)

Enewald: Heh. Well I'm taking Okinawa at least even if I take nothing else from Japan. As for Korea I'm working on that. :D
 
North and South Korea, coming right up?
 
RossN said:
koreansoldiers.jpg

Korean soldiers with their Russian (!) military advisor.[/CENTER]
Click to expand...


That pic. Gief-gief-gief real history behind it please!
 
The Korean War (Part III)
(1903 - 1904)

japanesesoldiers.jpg

Japanese soldiers on the march in Korea, 1903.​

"As Pompey said to Sulla: 'More men worship the rising sun than the setting sun.'"
- General O'Neill replying to a letter from the king on whether a future war with Japan was likely.

In April 1903 the Japanese landed two divisions in Korea at Taebaek. Though Japan had no official alliance with Korea the soldiers where welcomed as liberators buy the local Koreans and a fresh wave of partisan attacks broke out across the nominally-Irish controlled portions of the peninsula.

The situation was becoming worse by the day and O'Neill had no choice but to send the already seriously under strength 5th Division to try and hold off the Japanese before their toehold became a foothold. It was a sign of how thinly spread the Irish where that the Irish could muster only just over 5,000 soldiers total to face over three times that number of Japanese.

Meanwhile the Government was beginning to wake up to just how precarious the situation was in the Orient. On 1 May the Governor of Zhangjiang wired Dublin demanding extra supplies of ammunition for the city constabulary, hinting darkly that the Chinese sympathies were fully with Korea. This truly was a frightening development: with O'Neill stretched to his limits in Korea and Loughlin fighting the former Boxers in Hainan there were no troops available for keeping order in the Irish Oriental ports. Even as the Government began training a new division at the Curragh it was becoming clear discontent was not limited to the Far East: there were signs that the Irish public was growing weary of war and the never ending casualty reports.

On 8 May the inevitable happened. The exhausted soldiers of the 5th Division were defeated in battle, routed by the Japanese. It hardly mattered that three Japanese soldiers had fallen for every Irish infantryman, only that the Irish had abandoned the field. Even as the survivors’ retreated news arrived in O'Neill's forward base in Hanhung that Pohang and Taebaek had fallen to Korean partisans and that Taegu would not be far behind. The entire of occupied Korea was unravelling.

By late May it was clear to even the most hawkish politician in Dublin that not only would Korea not be annexed outright O'Neill was in danger of being driven out of the peninsula altogether. It was time to go to the Koreans with terms.

To those in Dublin who had dreamed of a new Irish Empire of Korea the Peace of Pusan (negotiated June-July 1903, coming into force March 1904) was a tremendous disappointment. The only territory that changed hands was the tiny island of Cheju, which was to become a port and coaling station for the Royal Irish Navy. The Korean Emperor was required to sign treaties recognizing Irish interests in his country but some in Dublin argued that even this favoured Korea more than it helped Ireland - as a 'satellite' Korea would now have to be defended by Irish arms against Japan, Prussia and Russia. The Prime Minister (conveniently forgetting this was more or less exactly the result pre-war Irish policy had desired) gloomed that so many lives had been spent to win control of an island smaller than Cork.

meji.jpg

Meiji the Great, Emperor of Japan.​

Irish casualties here indeed high, perhaps 40,000 overall and they were to continue to rise for Japan was still in the war. Formosa was re-conquered relatively easily in August 1903 but bringing Japan to the table was a formidable problem. After Korea there was no appetite for a long campaign on Japanese Archipelago. An element of misdirection was required: after bloodlessly seizing the Bonin Islands the Royal Irish Navy gathered its strength at Okinawa, seemingly the prelude to an invasion of Kyūshū. The Japanese quickly reinforced the southernmost island leaving the true Irish target vulnerable: Tokyo.

O'Neill succeeded in landing and quickly seizing the city, subduing the few troops there and capturing the Emperor and the Imperial Diet. Aware that furious Japanese reinforcements were racing for the city the Irish treated the Emperor and his politicians with politeness and respect, but also firmness. Ireland wanted peace and their only demand on Japan was the Bonin Islands; economically and militarily insignificant but symbolic proof of victory for a weary Irish public.

Japan agreed. On 18 February 1904 Ireland's war in the Orient drew to a close.

irishorient1904.png

The post-war settlement.​
 
Hurting the rising sun. :eek:
The vengeance shall come sooner or later. That is not an peace, but a treaty forcing Japan to prepare better for the next engagement. :D
 
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