My apologies for the long post- and I understand that this could be in the Suggestions Forum, but I would like this to be on the main page to draw attention to something that could be very important to the game, and to ask PDX if there is any plans to implement the Conference. I will be making a much more detailed post in the Suggestions Forum anyway- yes, even more typing than this
I don't expect this to get a lot of attention if I'm being totally honest- it's a lot of reading, but it's something that interests me a lot and I'd love to see it.
I'm curious about this. The Imperial Conference is something I actually expected to see in the base game- and was disappointed when it wasn't, amongst other things.
The Imperial Conferences were a key part to managing the British Empire, held every 4 years(ish, they were quite random at times) from 1887 through 1937. The Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth met on other occasions, but this one was key for many reasons- such as:
- It was the final Imperial Conference before WW2- and afterwards the Conferences were renamed and done biyearly instead.
- Foreign Policy during this time was very important, with Italy invading Abyssinia and Facism on the rise in Europe.
- The Economic and Trading Policy of the British Empire was heavily discussed here, as the Empire was coming out of the Great Depression.
- Burmas independence was discussed. Burma did have Representation at this Conference.
- The Defense of the Empire was discussed, and rearmament.
- An Imperial Federation was brought up, but shot down pretty fast.
For context and info on these to realize the importance of these matters:
1. Foreign Policy - With many nations in Europe mobilizing their forces, Germany being the key one(Rhineland- violating Versailles), and Italy launching an Invasion of Abyssnia, and then the Spanish Civil War to top it off.. tensions were starting to build. As we all know the British went for a policy of appeasement, but I believe we should have small ways through the Conference to intervene, or begin more mobilization of the Commonwealth forces. The Prime Minister of my own country, New Zealand, Michael Savage, was opposed to appeasement. I quote:
"Is your policy peace at any price; if it is so I cannot accept it" and "You can pay too high a price even for peace"
Savage was speaking about the Italian invasion of Abyssinia and wanted Commonwealth Intervention.
We have alt history paths that are 99% unlikely(Commie Japan- upcoming USA civil war) so why not British intervention? Alt history doesn't have to be a different ideology in a nation, because that's just easy and lazy, in my opinion.
2. Economic and Trading policy- not many changes were made here IIRC, the Empire was fully devoted to recovering from the Great Depression- and I believe there could be some small events for individual nations regarding this- but I don't believe there should be much focus on the overall conference, as all Commonwealth nations had been economically recovering before this point. The Prime Minister of Canada said:
"I shall not, at this time make any special reference to the problems which are of special concern to Canada beyond stating that economic conditions are definitely improving, though we are still face with the aftermath of war and depression in the form of a difficult unemployment and relief situation".
The economy recover of the Commonwealth nations was already in full swing in regards to policies set- and so I don't believe in needs to be covered in the Conference, as any later recovery is handled quite well in the Together for Victory trees.
3. Burman independence was only briefly discussed as they were given independence in 1937- but I mention this as they are not independent in the game. I believe an event should be given specifically for them to be released as a Puppet. Even if the event is part of the Imperial Conference, just to put it in the game.
4. Defence of the Empire- this is a big one really, and where we could have more intervention rather than appeasement. There are a couple of things to cover in this section.
Firstly the British "Recognized with regret that, not withstanding the the measure of success in the limitation of armaments attained by the countries concerned in the London Treaty for the Limitation of Naval Armaments of 25th March, 1936, and in the Anglo-German Agreement of 18th June, 1935, international conditions were not at the moment favourable to further progress in the direction of disarmament". The British were well aware that disarmament was unlikely now, but still went with the path of appeasement with Chamberlain at the head(he became Prime Minister during the Conference, I might add)- should we not have the option to pursue a path of intervention considering the Empire knew that disarmament wasn't going to happen?
All Commonwealth nations defence forces were discussed, Canada presenting the progress they had made with their defence forces, India's was mentioned how they were well equipped to deal with internal strife and any North-West conflicts with tribes and such. South Africa had triple the defense expenditure than they had 4 years prior and New Zealand were mentioned in terms of co-operation with other defense forces.
Australia was mentioned very importantly, as to highlight the Importance of the Singapore Base- so we could have that included with some Singapore events perhaps - but we already do have a focus for it- it depends what PDX change. There was a decision for Australia to construct two new cruisers and two new sloops(*), alongside facilities for naval repairs and oil storage(!!!!) hint hint PDX.
"The Conference accordingly was glad to be informed that steps have been taken with these ends in view(**) and, in particular, that substantial progress has been made towards the completion of the naval base at Singapore and its defences, with the aid of the generous financial assistance received from various parts of the empire."
5. The Imperial Federation. This is probably the biggest alt-history we could put in the game, the Imperial Federation is the entire Commonwealth/British Empire uniting into one nation. I don't really need to explain it more than that.
If implemented it should be difficult to pull off, take a huge amount of PP and resources- and each Commonwealth member should give a yes or a no- many should say no as it is breaking the agreement from the previous Imperial Conferences where the British government had promised the Commonwealth nations autonomy under the Statute of Westminster. Those which say no could break free- and then be invaded should the UK decide to, and then eventually be united- as is in the British Overhaul mod(an excellent mod which I hope PDX take inspiration from).
I believe the game is really lacking international politics, and this could be a good start into feeling the situation in the world. I even want a League of Nations added- but that's unlikely- even if it would work really well with the Imperial Conference- considering the Conferences general agenda was to abide by the League of Nations foreign policies and attitudes.
* - Thanks guys, as a Kiwi I'm sure I'd feel so much safer being protected by two extra SLOOPS.
** - The statement before this was about the Empire as a whole safeguarding communications, routes and waterways essential to defense and trade and the building of naval bases and facilities for repairs and refuelling- so the statement was referencing those too.
P.S. I read 45 pages of the Summary of Proceedings, Imperial Conference, 1937 for my source on much of this, and that's where many of the quotes are from- if anyone else wishes too just look it up, I would link it but I'm unsure I'm allowed to.
I don't expect this to get a lot of attention if I'm being totally honest- it's a lot of reading, but it's something that interests me a lot and I'd love to see it.
I'm curious about this. The Imperial Conference is something I actually expected to see in the base game- and was disappointed when it wasn't, amongst other things.
The Imperial Conferences were a key part to managing the British Empire, held every 4 years(ish, they were quite random at times) from 1887 through 1937. The Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth met on other occasions, but this one was key for many reasons- such as:
- It was the final Imperial Conference before WW2- and afterwards the Conferences were renamed and done biyearly instead.
- Foreign Policy during this time was very important, with Italy invading Abyssinia and Facism on the rise in Europe.
- The Economic and Trading Policy of the British Empire was heavily discussed here, as the Empire was coming out of the Great Depression.
- Burmas independence was discussed. Burma did have Representation at this Conference.
- The Defense of the Empire was discussed, and rearmament.
- An Imperial Federation was brought up, but shot down pretty fast.
For context and info on these to realize the importance of these matters:
1. Foreign Policy - With many nations in Europe mobilizing their forces, Germany being the key one(Rhineland- violating Versailles), and Italy launching an Invasion of Abyssnia, and then the Spanish Civil War to top it off.. tensions were starting to build. As we all know the British went for a policy of appeasement, but I believe we should have small ways through the Conference to intervene, or begin more mobilization of the Commonwealth forces. The Prime Minister of my own country, New Zealand, Michael Savage, was opposed to appeasement. I quote:
"Is your policy peace at any price; if it is so I cannot accept it" and "You can pay too high a price even for peace"
Savage was speaking about the Italian invasion of Abyssinia and wanted Commonwealth Intervention.
We have alt history paths that are 99% unlikely(Commie Japan- upcoming USA civil war) so why not British intervention? Alt history doesn't have to be a different ideology in a nation, because that's just easy and lazy, in my opinion.
2. Economic and Trading policy- not many changes were made here IIRC, the Empire was fully devoted to recovering from the Great Depression- and I believe there could be some small events for individual nations regarding this- but I don't believe there should be much focus on the overall conference, as all Commonwealth nations had been economically recovering before this point. The Prime Minister of Canada said:
"I shall not, at this time make any special reference to the problems which are of special concern to Canada beyond stating that economic conditions are definitely improving, though we are still face with the aftermath of war and depression in the form of a difficult unemployment and relief situation".
The economy recover of the Commonwealth nations was already in full swing in regards to policies set- and so I don't believe in needs to be covered in the Conference, as any later recovery is handled quite well in the Together for Victory trees.
3. Burman independence was only briefly discussed as they were given independence in 1937- but I mention this as they are not independent in the game. I believe an event should be given specifically for them to be released as a Puppet. Even if the event is part of the Imperial Conference, just to put it in the game.
4. Defence of the Empire- this is a big one really, and where we could have more intervention rather than appeasement. There are a couple of things to cover in this section.
Firstly the British "Recognized with regret that, not withstanding the the measure of success in the limitation of armaments attained by the countries concerned in the London Treaty for the Limitation of Naval Armaments of 25th March, 1936, and in the Anglo-German Agreement of 18th June, 1935, international conditions were not at the moment favourable to further progress in the direction of disarmament". The British were well aware that disarmament was unlikely now, but still went with the path of appeasement with Chamberlain at the head(he became Prime Minister during the Conference, I might add)- should we not have the option to pursue a path of intervention considering the Empire knew that disarmament wasn't going to happen?
All Commonwealth nations defence forces were discussed, Canada presenting the progress they had made with their defence forces, India's was mentioned how they were well equipped to deal with internal strife and any North-West conflicts with tribes and such. South Africa had triple the defense expenditure than they had 4 years prior and New Zealand were mentioned in terms of co-operation with other defense forces.
Australia was mentioned very importantly, as to highlight the Importance of the Singapore Base- so we could have that included with some Singapore events perhaps - but we already do have a focus for it- it depends what PDX change. There was a decision for Australia to construct two new cruisers and two new sloops(*), alongside facilities for naval repairs and oil storage(!!!!) hint hint PDX.
"The Conference accordingly was glad to be informed that steps have been taken with these ends in view(**) and, in particular, that substantial progress has been made towards the completion of the naval base at Singapore and its defences, with the aid of the generous financial assistance received from various parts of the empire."
5. The Imperial Federation. This is probably the biggest alt-history we could put in the game, the Imperial Federation is the entire Commonwealth/British Empire uniting into one nation. I don't really need to explain it more than that.
If implemented it should be difficult to pull off, take a huge amount of PP and resources- and each Commonwealth member should give a yes or a no- many should say no as it is breaking the agreement from the previous Imperial Conferences where the British government had promised the Commonwealth nations autonomy under the Statute of Westminster. Those which say no could break free- and then be invaded should the UK decide to, and then eventually be united- as is in the British Overhaul mod(an excellent mod which I hope PDX take inspiration from).
I believe the game is really lacking international politics, and this could be a good start into feeling the situation in the world. I even want a League of Nations added- but that's unlikely- even if it would work really well with the Imperial Conference- considering the Conferences general agenda was to abide by the League of Nations foreign policies and attitudes.
* - Thanks guys, as a Kiwi I'm sure I'd feel so much safer being protected by two extra SLOOPS.
** - The statement before this was about the Empire as a whole safeguarding communications, routes and waterways essential to defense and trade and the building of naval bases and facilities for repairs and refuelling- so the statement was referencing those too.
P.S. I read 45 pages of the Summary of Proceedings, Imperial Conference, 1937 for my source on much of this, and that's where many of the quotes are from- if anyone else wishes too just look it up, I would link it but I'm unsure I'm allowed to.