Okay… With impeccable timing, we are doing the VERY SAME THING as CNN today! We’re covering EGYPT! All Egypt, All the time!
24/7
Okay, well… Mostly Egypt all the time.
We’ve been trying to get Egypt into our Sphere. This is one of those places where the USA has been working too. You may even recall that Egypt was involved in the USA’s war with the UK, which… Which might still be going on, for all I know. Maybe they came to a White Peace. The UK didn’t do so well in Canada, so maybe they went home.
We get a “Friendly” Opinion, which is what we need to play with the big dogs. Which, as it stands right now, means France, the USA and the Ottomans, all of whom are rivals for this rich spot. The French look like they’re in good position.
Oh, and on the subject of something other than Egypt for a minute….
Does anybody REALLY know how much I dislike the Socialists, and loathe the fact that they’re part of my government? REALLY?
Let me give you a hint….
On January 1, 1920, the Socialists finally win a majority of seats in the Upper House, giving them/me the ability to enact reforms. I do so on January 2nd – I pass Trinket Pensions, which is the most preferred policy reform of the people – and immediately afterward, I dismiss the Socialist Prime Minister and replace him with a Royalist!
They lasted ONE day, once their usefulness was past!
In March, we acquire a Casus Belli against Egypt! This may be the first useful Casus Belli that I have gotten the whole game. I got an “Acquire State” CB against Japan once, but Japan was uncivilized, so I couldn’t use it. The CB apparently says that I can take any state that I want. So what do I want???
Believe it or not, I decided I didn’t want to use it. More explanation later.
In Spring of 1920, the French batted the USA off the top of the pyramid in Egypt, and it was outside of any Sphere again. France spent their last Influence Points doing that. The USA didn’t have enough to grab it back. The Ottomans were still quite a ways from having 100 IP to do anything, so….
Meanwhile, I’m improving my navy. My naval base in Muscat, Oman, is completed – good for being able to hang my ships around the Egypt area, eh? And I also complete research on Steam Turbine Ships. That means Dreadnoughts soon!
So, there I was contemplating what to do about Egypt, when….
Darn them! I had dibs! What’s more, Egypt’s allies abandoned her. What to do? This meant that Egypt didn’t have the USA to protect her anymore…. Hmm…
I pre-loaded my troops on transports, sent all my commerce raiders and cruisers, and even all my sailing ships (yes, I still had some – they’re mostly disbanded by the end of this war) toward Egypt, and then declared war once everybody was ready.
Now… I didn’t use my Acquire State CB, because I didn’t want just a state. Actually, this seemed like the perfect opportunity – maybe even the LAST opportunity – and so I made Protectorate status my War Aim (something I didn’t have a CB for, but something that would allow me to take the whole country without a whole lot of Infamy).
Instantly, we had troops all over, and ships all over. It was almost all over before it even began!
Except…
Except that I would need every Warscore point I could get! And Egypt is a huge country – it was back then, anyway. And the Spanish were already sending troops to start occupying land… I was in a race! I had to capture those lands before the Spanish could, or else I’d be losing out on Warscore.
So, sure enough, I was swarming every province I could get to. And I had enough troops and transports in the region that I could get just about everything.
The Spanish were kind of late to the party, for the most part, except for a fleet they sent to loiter off the Red Sea coast with some troops who were taking their time deciding where to land.
And Spain was too late in another respect, too. In August, they lost their Great Power status to Mexico! Just think if they had declared war on Egypt earlier, and taken that great wealth. Or if they’d declared war upon another Great Power – that was the formula for retaining your GP status. Then again, maybe Egypt was an oblique means of getting themselves into a Great Power War with the USA, except the USA didn’t cooperate. Even so, taking on the #3 Great Power is probably not the best recommended method of retaining your GP status. Their empire consists only of basically what you see here (Algeria is not theirs, just a similar color), plus the Philippines. Maybe Cuba… don’t remember when that came into their possession.
The swarms kept swarming. We got into a fight with their army, and we had a 25:1 casualty rate – obviously, the Egyptians are outclassed. Later, we sunk 12 of their ships, for the loss of none of our own.
We achieve Raider Group Doctrine, and immediately set out to expand our naval bases. This will lead to other things.
Spain is slow to occupy anything, which is good for us. We speed ahead of them in gathering Warscore – quickly enough, I hope, that all the good properties which the Spaniards could access will already be in our hands before they can get there.
In November, 1921, we finally discover the key to defending against those French gas attacks! This is a critical turning point for us. Not only does it mean we’ve crossed the chasm between the “haves” and “have-nots” in military power, but it also means we will be on more equal terms with the French, should we come up against them again.
We continue to occupy land.
In December, the theories to develop our first Dreadnoughts are completed! This is a big deal, because to my knowledge there are no other countries who have Dreadnoughts – we’ve been watching, and I sure haven’t seen any.
It quickly becomes apparent to me why that might be. There cannot be any Dreadnoughts, because one of the critical elements necessary to build them is Telephones…
And no one has developed the technology to manufacture Telephones yet!!!
Grr… I should have seen this coming. In fact, I did, early in the game, but then other things got in the way and I got distracted. So… Must develop Telephones… The other main components are easier to get. Siam is one of only three countries, remarkably, who produces Steamships!
At least I know I’m in good shape to reach these higher technologies before other countries do.
As we’re finishing our occupation of Egypt, we complete colonization of yet another nearby territory in the Horn of Africa. It looks like we’re competing primarily with the dreaded Ottomans for possession of most of Africa. France has most of the rest of Africa. The Spaniards have some – as shown in a screenshot of their empire above – and of course the British have spots along the coast, as well as South Africa.
Another thing not many countries can produce is Fuel, for cars, tanks, etc.. But Siam becomes only the second country to be able to produce this commodity, as well!
When, in February, 1922, we completely and comprehensively defeat Egypt, we Annex them, adding them to our empire! Egypt is well populated, and though they don’t produce a lot of important materials, they do have quite a large number of provinces with farmers, and we can sell that stuff for the benefit of the Empire just as easily as the products of our own farmers.
It should be noted that this is Victoria 2 v1.1 – in v1.2, I believe they fixed it so it is impossible to annex an entire uncivilized country like Egypt anymore. There’s a restriction of only 3 or 4 states, I believe.