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Ahh Stresseman, I do hope he mucks up spectacularly if only because I know it will annoy certain people who believe he was utterly perfect.
That said I credit him with doing his bit to fight stereotypes; how can anyone read his line about annexing Austria being 'completely innocent' and not laugh? He's certainly proving the Germans do indeed have a robust sense of humour.
That said I credit him with doing his bit to fight stereotypes; how can anyone read his line about annexing Austria being 'completely innocent' and not laugh? He's certainly proving the Germans do indeed have a robust sense of humour.
Of course we do. Why do you think the KM ever actually bothered to make a serious plan for Sealion?
I think using the word 'plan' in conjunction with the German efforts at preliminary arrangements for enacting their intentions vis a vis Operation Sealion is asking it to carry a far heavier burden than it can reasonably be expected to bear.
Can you tell I've been watching some old Yes Minister recently?
Keep Huey and add Earl also. Huey Pierce Long for President and Earl Kemps Long for Vice President would be excellent choice for more badass America. I've seen this combination in Confederate AAR once and I loved it. Just don't kill Long after some time as all writters did. Since a lot of people added wish lists, here's one from me too.
Back to actual theme: Maybe benevolent rule of Habsburgs should be restored in Austria and eventually in some other surrounding areas to prevent further mess? Since Slovenia and Croatia are independent, and Slovenia is actually governed by bunch of undefined Austrian officers (some zombies from WW1 as far as I can see), maybe Austria-Illyria could be proposed for mutual benefits. Austria gets access to the sea, new territories are blessed with benevolent and prosperous rule of beloved Habsburgs and such restoration isn't so unplausible as full Habsburg restoration would be.
As badass as having two Longs on the ticket would be, I do see a potential roadblock to it.
What about an American Uncivil War? USSA President Long making insulting 'you momma' jokes about the Pacifica supremo Borah while Dixie Collective Supervisor-for-life Garner questions the persona hygiene of the Greater New England Emperor MacArthur. Surely that would appeal, or is it just me?
Chapter four: Between the Fascio and the Cross
The council of the League of Nations decided that the Austrian question was to be settled by a pleibiscite. Italy opposed this measure, fearing that a German occupation of Austria would lead to territorial demands on the former Austrian territories annexed by Italy after WWI. However, Berlin offered to sign a friendship agreement in which the German Reich committed to refrain from any territorial demands in Italy and thus Mussolini decided to abandon the policy of protecting Austrian independence. June 1th was the day chosen for the pleibiscite, and the "yes" option won with a plurality of 64,6%. A week later the League of Nations made the union legal and official. France and Italy accepted the measure, but remained unconvinced in spite of Britain's assurances, specially Italy, who now shared a long border with Germany.
In Italy the German annexation of Austria set off a firestorm. For many, like Italo Balbo, it was proof of the endless expansionism of their northern neighbour. Other members of the Partito Nazionale Fascista (National Fascist Part), like Roberto Farinacci, sided with Germany, thus starting a round of bickering that il Duce was unable (or unwilling) to stop. The tempestuous Balbo denounced what he considered an "invasion" and even demanded that the Italian Army be made ready "just in case". Farinacci stated then that Italy could not afford yet a one-on-one war with Germany (as it was obvious that France and Britain the latter would do little but voice their concern and the former was too busy with their own inner turmoil). It was during this dispute that began the long-lasting ill-will betweenBalbo and Farinacci.
The king and Mussolinni were placed in a very difficult position by this. In the end, Italy's foreign policy resolved the question when Farinacci joined the Voluntary Militia for National Security (Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, or MVSN) to fight in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, hoping that this would turn him a heroe. For a while, with Farinacci in Abyssinia and Balbo in Libya, in what was an effective exile from politics, an uneasy peace returned to Rome.
Mussolini and Balbo in Lybia: a chance for il Duce to suggest calm to the new governor.
The Anschluss had deeper effects on Paris. The failure of Sarraut's government to avoid Germany's annexation of Austria was perceived by the public opinion as a mistake that doomed him. Sarraut was nothing more than one of the failed and brief goverments brought by a series of political and economic crises which plunged France into a power vacuum. Inner turmoil brought down the government in 1934, and it seemed as if the Republic itself was under siege. In 1935 the Croix De Feu threatened to launch a putsch, and France seemed to be on the verge of collapse. Worse still, the Left parties were united in their mutual hatred: the French Socialists were unwilling to ally with the French Communist Party (PCF) in spite of Moscow's petition to abandon the "social-fascist" position. Divided and quarreling amongst itself, there were some who gleefully predicted the collapse of the left in the 1936 election.
In the end there were too many failures, too many crisis, too many dissapointments and a widespread loss of faith in the Republic’s institutions. All this resulted the dissolution of the Popular Front and the victory of François De la Rocque's Parti Social Français. Moderate, Christian social and democratic, the PSF had grown to become the first French right-wing mass party (from 500 members in 1928 to 400,000 by the end of 1935) and moved to a moderate and centrist position. De la Rocque promised the nationalization of banks and industrial companies such as Renault; a reform of parliamentary procedures; a minimum wage and paid holidays; and women's right to vote. To counter the monarchist Action française and its slogan Politique d'abord! (First Politics!), de la Rocque invented the motto Social d'abord! (First Social!). That's why it was defined as a "centrist party with right-wing voters but a left-wing policy".
François de la Rocque seen here during a meeting in L'Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Some comments: Yes, I advanced the Anschluss a bit. Why? Sheer laziness. I wanted to get rid of that to be free to go for my special treatment for France and Italy. And with several ladies... er... with several issues in mind, I went for the safest option.
And yes, I have some kind of odd habit of Rocquinizing France from time to time. It's the universe's way to compensate for not making a Halifaxian Britain or an Al Smithian USA in this AAR. Think about that if you dare...
And in the next chapter we'll go back to Blighty...
@trekaddict: Would they complain with a huge Red block to the East? Really? Well, perhaps it's time to give them some food for thinking.
@SovietAmerika: Too true.
Long and Lindbergh... good idea.
@Nathan Madien: In times of needs, politics and war make strange bedfellows.
I agree about Long. Can you imagine a ticket which included Long, Macarthur and Patton going for the presidency?
@SovietAmerika -2- :Leaving Long out? No!
@El Pip: Don't worry. He'll have his moment of "D'oh"niness in due time. A pity that Britain will be affected by this event, too. Worry now. :laugh:
@trekaddict -2-: Raeder did have a lot of work to pretend that they were really doing something about it.
@El Pip -3-: Yes, Minis... er, I mean, Yes Pip. I noticed it at once. It was quite clear, by you being so throughly clear, straightforward and precise, although there is some difficulty in justifiably assigning to understand the meaning of "efforts" in your statement inasmuch as the precise correlation between the word you used and the real actions taken by the KGM as they are so contradicting in their respective nature as to cause some epistemological problems of sufficient mangnitude upon the logical and semantic resources fo the Queen's English.
All in all: effort, Seelowe and Kriegsmarine doesn't match.
@trekaddict: Indeed.
@Asalto: I remember an AAR with Huey dying and his bro replacing him. However, I wonder what will do FDR to go into war without a warlike Germany but with a bully Soviet Union...
No, no Habsburgs for Austria nor for any one, sorry, unless someone can persuaded me of the contrary. About the Balkanic zombies... blame Paradox. I trusted them :blush:
Anyway, in due moment, London will solved that issue too@Faeelin: Shit, I know some friend of mine that will go mad about that and it's bad enough for me. Thank God he doesn't paradox too much...
@Nathan Madien: A roadblock...? tell me more, I pray thee.
@talt: Don't worry about that. I prefer a single headache than two or more diarrheas.
@El Pip: That would force me to hurry the development of the British A-Bomb to nuke such an offense for humanity before Monty Python have an idea for an American Unsketch with Cleese as Long, Jones as Borah, Graham as Garner and Idle as MacArthur.
No, it's just you. I haven't thought about it, as you can see.
@Nathan Madien -2-: Not me. I lack the nerve, among many other things. :blush:
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Balbo does look much more like a proper national leader than Mussolini, plus of course he has a fine piece of facial topiary.
I'm also going to predict de la Rocque turns out to be evil, not because of any of those policies or anything so sensible - just because he's been photographed from below using the classic 'evil villain' camera angle.
I'm also going to predict de la Rocque turns out to be evil, not because of any of those policies or anything so sensible - just because he's been photographed from below using the classic 'evil villain' camera angle.
Not to forget Balbo can also fly.
That being said, if the French land in the other camp this time around the Navy will be most pleased, after all the Channel fleet has sen precious little practice in the first War.
That being said, if the French land in the other camp this time around the Navy will be most pleased, after all the Channel fleet has sen precious little practice in the first War.
Not to mention possibility of Cunningham combining Taranto and Mers-el-Kebir in Mediterranean...
Chapter Five: Treaties and deals.
As Keith Daniell wrote almost thirty years later, "December was Chamberlain's mensis horribilis" (1). In addition to the troublesome marriage of King Edward and Queen Marina there was the doomed-from-the-start London Naval Conference, which opened on 9 December 1935. Neither the United States nort France had any problem to agree to fix a limit the growth in naval armaments -the former was still busy with the long lasting effects of the Wall Street crash (2) and the latter was more interested in re-equipping and expanding his land and air forces in case that Germany decided to turn west, in spite of Britain's promises. However, Italy and Japan felt slighted by the proposal, as they considered that the treaty damaged their imperial ambitions, ande withdrew from the negotiations on January 15 1936. Furthermore, just to make sure that the Prime Minister was not going to miss the point, the newspapers began to receive "anonymous" letters which stated, plainly, that if Japan and Italy were free to act and the United States and France so clearly uninterested about the treaty, Britain should not sign it.
Muttering "bloody murder", Chamberlain saw how the conference ended without any positive result and blamed Winston Churchill for that failure, as the Prime Minister suspected that Churchill's hand was behind the letters to the newspapers (3). As he could not prove anything, Chamberlain focused in the next trouble: the armed forces. Even if the relations with Italy were quite amicable, the same could not be said about neither the USSR nor Japan. Thus the need to keep a healthy balance of power with the two. The problem, however, was to find the funding for increasing the armed services as their respective staffs thought proper. For instance, the Chief of Imperial General Staff, General Sir Cyril Deverell was demanding more money for four kinds of tanks (Light, Cruiser, Medium and Infantry, even if only Cruiser and Medium tanks were any use for Armoured Warfare).
The Cruiser Mk I, A9 tank
Then old habits returned. As if a ghost returned from the trenches and the birth pains of the tank, there was a "small" problem with the Carrier Fleet. It could be argued that the story of Britain's aircraft carriers began on spite of itself. Lacking a serious rival after the destruction of the bulk of the German navy in the early stages of the Great War (4), the development of the first carriers had taken a long path. It was only by the summer of 1918 when ended the conversion to a hybrid aircraft carrier of the the battlecruiser HMS Furious. A few days later Sqn Cdr Edwin Dunning of the RNAS landed a Sopwith Pup successfully on board Furious, becoming the first person to land an aircraft on a moving ship. This success led to construction of more aircraft carriers (HMS Hermes and HMS Argus -5) in 1919-1920 and, after the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 they were joined by the former battlecruisers Courageous and Glorious by 1930. By them, it was clear that something else was needed and in 1931 the Admiralty began drawing up plans for a new purpose built carrier. The result was the HMS Ark Royal, which was the first carrier to have the strenght deck, hangar and flight deck forming one integrated whole. However, continued parsimony delayed the ordering of the new carrier and only in September 1935 was the keel finally laid down at the Cammell-Laird shipyard.
Innovative as it was (6) -a new hull design, an integrated AA armament of eight twin-mounted 4.5in dual purpose guns, an spacious flight deck and the fitting of cross-deck arrester gear towards the rear of the flight deck, landing lights to assist recovery at night or in poor daytime visibility and a radio homing beacon to guide aircraft home-, it was not enough for the British naval planners, who, profiting for the lack of internation support for further naval treaties and Britain's abandonment of the "Ten Year Rule" in 1932, began to work on designs for a new class of carrier based on the design of the Ark Royal: the Illustrious class, with flight decks designed to withstand a direct hit by a 500lb bomb. Four were approved, but it was going to take a bit of a time to laid them down due to the long list of delayed ships that were waiting in those days.
At least Chamberlain was happy to see that the Empire Free Trade or Imperial Preference, a major plank of the Conservative government's economic policy, became law when the Import Duties Act was approved by the Parliament in March 1936 and thus established a tariff of 10 percent on all imports, except for food and raw materials. The Dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Newfoundland were temporarily exempted from these tariffs pending the decisions to be made at the Imperial Economic Conference (IEC) to be held in Ottawa in September 1936. Meanwhile, Leo Amery, the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, would pressure as hard as he could the Dominion Prime Ministers for the establishment of Imperial Preference.
(1) Daniell, Keith, The Life of Neville Chamberlain, Volume 2: The Nightmare Years: 1930-1940, Cambridge University Press (1973).
(2) Apparently Al Smith and Herbert Hoover's administrations had proved to more more damaging to the nation than the Crash itself.
(3) If we have to believe Daniell's biography, Chamberlain kept repeating "ChURcHiLl, ChURcHiLl eVeRYWheRe!!!!" under his breath for a few days.
(4) Darn you, German IA!!!!
(5) To call that... box a CV is, methinks, another prove of the charming British sense of humor.
(6) As you would understand that word, Pip, not as Sir Humphrey Appleby would do.
@Asalto: Your right. Friends in need, you could call them.
@El Pip: Ok, ok... Asalto first, then you... who's looking at my notes, uh? Well, let's say that I'm planning to do something about Balbo and il Duce. About De la Rocque... he's French. That's evil enough, if you ask me. :rofl:
@trekaddict: The other side: De la Rocque is not going to end Commie. And the Channel Fleet had a bit of action in the early stages, as mentioned above...
@Asalto -2-: In the end I'll have to DoW on France just for the sake of you three... Warmongers!
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Spiffing news, that is a mighty fleet on the slips. Do I spy a pair of SHBBs (N3s I guess) at the end there? Hopefully this will teach Chamberlain the value of the RN and dissuade him from future foolish moves.
Worrying the men of tanks are after four types, it was bad enough in OTL when they only wanted three!
Worrying the men of tanks are after four types, it was bad enough in OTL when they only wanted three!