Oof, hope Germany survives to actually present a challenge; personally I'd probably want player intervention to make that happen, otherwise there's not really a story.
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Hitler, if his regime survives, may be tempted to either go to war against Russia out of sheer jealousy - or invite them into the Axis. I do like seeing the Czechs fight back, though, and France make a meaningful contribution to help them. An OOC question, does the mod change anything on that Czech situation, making resistance more likely, or was it just the normal mechanics at play (I’ve played only a little base HOI4 myself).
The Reich being destroyed to the overzealous delusions of a madman. I hope Germany wins this war tbh, otherwise there will be almost nobody left to oppose Russia in Eastern Europe.
Interesting to see Anastasia's shift from idealism to possible pragmatism, she's really making due on her promise of bringing all of the Imperial lands. But will she lose herself in the process? Amazing stuff as per usual
Interesting to see Anastasia's shift from idealism to possible pragmatism, she's really making due on her promise of bringing all of the Imperial lands. But will she lose herself in the process? Amazing stuff as per usual
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This is one war that will decide if the Third Reich is truly a new power to contend with by the rest of Europe or just a mere paper tiger. Time will tell. Seems the Spanish civil war will see a Communist Spain stand victorious. Maybe? Maybe not. Can't wait to see how it all goes down.
Whether that's a convenience or irony...
Granted, Anastasia has the advantage of in-game events that favor more peaceful solutions. But IC, she is definitely taking some better routes than just threatening war whenever you don't get your way. It also keeps the British from wanting to intervene and do Crimean War Part 2.
Keep in mind her idealism is centered around restoring the glory of Russia and the Romanov household. Any foreign power or authority that hinders that will be seen as hindering it, and hence be seen, in one way or another, as an enemy.
Germany will last much longer than a year, don't worry.
I won't give anything away, but Germany is not going to get rolled over.
You'd be surprised.
Indeed. Czechoslovakia has actually managed to capture some German territory early in the war - so bragging rights for them! And France is doing more than initiating a phony war of sorts, even if it seems to be a repeat of the errors from the early days of World War I.
Not that I'm aware of, although the mod team might be able to answer that more succinctly.
I think I've seen Czechoslovakia and Germany go to war once or twice in past games. It doesn't happen a lot, but it does happen.
First, Russia has to worry about the Baltic states, Poland, Sweden-Finland...
Believe it or not, the Spanish Civil War isn't done yet. I was actually surprised just how long the durn thing went on.
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Chapter 02
Wrangel
16 November, 1938
Wrangel took out his pocket watch and looked at it to check the time. He had been made to wait two hours now – two hours too long. He had a feeling that the Swedish-Finnish delegation he was to meet had been doing this on purpose. Since the beginning of October, Russian diplomats had been sending communiques to Oslo, demanding the return of former Imperial Russian territory. The Kingdom had been dragging its feet in responses, no doubt expecting that it could buy time until Russia either didn’t care, or they could find a political ally to defend them. Whenever they did talk, there were demands attached to those conversations. This loaded delay had only angered the Empress, who felt like she was being both disrespected and played with all at once. It became a top priority for the Russian high command.
Of course, the next concern for Russian command, outside of Finland, was the question of the war in central Europe. The initial success of the Czechoslovakian counterattack had given some of the generals hope, but Wrangel knew it would be short lived. Indeed, it was – soon the Germans had reclaimed any land lost, and were now beginning their own offensive against the Sudetenland. Ostrava fell on 24 October, and by 8 November German troops were pushing towards Plzen, with Carlsbad threatened with encirclement. And the French breakthrough? It had stalled near Stuttgart, and was now being met with a fierce German counterattack. It would only be a matter of time before the French were back at their own border.
Some had thought Britain would jump into the war – but Chamberlain, it seemed, preferred to drag his feet. Of course he condemned Hitler’s declaration of war, which cut short his own efforts for peace, and of course he gave his government’s support to Czechoslovakia and France… but there was no official declaration of war. Britain was, for now, out of the conflict. Word from the ambassador in London was that, while the war between Germany, France, Czechoslovakia, and Romania was now a reality, Chamberlain believed that he could continue to contain the war and keep it from spreading. His goal, it seemed, was to treat it as more akin to the Franco-Prussian War than the Great War.
Meanwhile, Wrangel was waiting for his meeting with the Swedish and Finnish diplomats. Representatives of the parliament, as well as representatives of Prime Minister Risto Heikki Ryti himself, had supposedly arrived, and yet they had kept him waiting. Wrangel assumed that this was no doubt a further snub against him and his position. Here, in the old parliament building of Helsinki, one of the top men in the Imperial Army – if not all of the Russian Empire – was made to wait on their beck and call, like a common servant.
An attendant, a young Finn in a sharp tuxedo, came out of the meeting hall and beckoned Wrangel in. The officer stood up and walked through the large door, his black boots echoing off the large walls all around him. Before a large round table, he saw a few Finnish and Swedish diplomats, all of whom stood at once as soon as he entered.
“Ah, General Wrangel!” said a diplomat. “It is good to see you.”
“Field Marshal, now,” said Wrangel, though he did take a bow.
“Oh, forgive me! I wasn’t aware of your promotion.”
“It is quite alright. I am happy we could finally make time for this meeting.”
“Indeed,” said another diplomat. He motioned towards a folder on the desk. “We have finally come to agreements on the terms of our diplomatic union. You may look through it if you like.”
Diplomatic union? Wrangel’s mind ran through those words. They were a change from the annexation and unification terminology that had been used before. His concern was justified when he opened up the folder and read the details of the kingdom’s proposal. The Russian Empire would pay an exorbitant amount of money to the Swedish-Finnish government, which would remain under a high level of self-autonomy. Furthermore, Russia would oversee and pay for the unification of the Swedish and Finnish cultures, as well as assisting with any reconstruction or modernization that may need to be involved. The kingdom’s government would, in essence, exist and continue to run, while Russia was given lip service and had to pay all the costs.
It was now confirmed, in Wrangel’s mind, what he had feared all along. They were being played with. The Finns and Swedes were making them wait in the same manner a salesman might keep his best wares from the marketplace until the very end of a show. They thought that by making them wait, they could drive the Russians into a harder bargain. To Wrangel, this was an insult to the highest degree. It was not only an insult to the Empire, but an insult to the Empress. They thought Empress Anastasia was like a little girl at Christmas, hopping up and down and begging to open her gifts, only to be ordered around. He had tried being nice. He had tried being kind. He had tried being patient. Now, Wrangel would let the gloves come off. Wrangel, the voice of reason in the Imperial Army, had taken a step back, and now Wrangel, the Black Baron, the terror of the Bolsheviks, the name most feared by the enemies of Russia, would have to speak.
“Gentleman, I don’t think you understand the situation. I can see that you have a very simplified view of things. Therefore, I am now going to speak plainly. I was not sent here to simply waste time with talk and circumstance. I was not sent here to negotiate. Finland is not a spot of land we want to buy, like a farmer who wants to buy an acre or two from his neighbor. Finland is the rightful land of the Russian Empire, having been owned by her for over two centuries, only to be taken away from her due to circumstances outside her control. We do not see this as a simple deal like buying an automobile – and I will illustrate the gravity of it all to you. As we speak, the Empire has 422,000 men lined up along the Finnish border – that’s about 55 divisions. All of them are under my direct command. Our intelligence reports that, best case scenario, Finland can muster about 33 divisions, with little air force or navy to speak of, on top of that.” Wrangel leaned forward on the table now, his hands balling into fists to support himself. “I know that you are still recovering from the Finnish Civil War, and that much of your concern post-unification has been on making sure Swedes and Finns can get along. You know full well, gentlemen, that you will not be able to withstand a full attack from the Imperial Army.”
The politicians were silent. Soon they were exchanging nervous glances with one another – yet they said nothing.
“If we have nothing else to discuss, then I’m afraid I must call this meeting to an end.” Wrangel took out his pocket watch and get it a look over. “I have a plane which leaves in five hours. I should return to Petrograd by the evening. I must inform you gentlemen that, as soon as I land, I shall give the order for the Imperial Army to attack. Therefore, I bid you good day, and the mercies of the Blessed Virgin.”
With that, the Black Baron turned and stormed away, making a bee line through the door. No sooner had he gone out the door that he heard a voice call out. “Wait! Wait! Field Marshal Wrangel!…”
So it was that the entire United Kingdom of Sweden-Finland surrendered to the Russian Empire. With that, most of Scandinavia, save Norway, fell under the Russian grip. The inclusion of Swedish territory, though surprising, turned out to be a boost for Empress Anastasia’s already soaring popularity. Sweden, which had historically been an enemy of Russia, and had at one point been as dangerous as Russia, was now under Russian control.
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A certain Swedish king must be spinning in his grave after this! What a move! Hitler himself must be a bit impressed at this political maneuver.
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Yeah, Chamberlain is also having issues with Communists plotting against Britain, not to mention still in the process of decolonization. Have Britain jump into that fire pit, and the commies would be marching towards the Buckingham Palace.
Wrangel giving a masterclass in diplomatic thuggery, there. The inclusion of Swedish land in the deal rather exposes the fact that this is not just about recovering “rightful” lost territories. Russia is on as much as warpath as Germany; its luck has just held longer.
On that score, are there options for war to stem from these annexation demands? Could the AI have responded to the threats here with a DOW?
On that score, are there options for war to stem from these annexation demands? Could the AI have responded to the threats here with a DOW?
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Judging by the way the focus is set up you either have to pay an exorbitant amount of pp or civvies or force them into submission.
Well, that seemed a pretty easy Anschluss type exercise in the end - and Sweden was never part of Russia. As others have mentioned, it seems a little surprising Sweden came as part of the package and not just Finland.
What effect will such a dramatic ploy have diplomatically? It’s worse (from a non-Russian perspective) and on a greater scale than what Hitler has demanded so far.
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And a last thing, yes of course what happened to the Romanov child is tragic just like all kind of bloody repression but Reds were not the only one to use mass killing Whites did too and the White Terror killed as many people that the Red Terror did during the counter Revolution. And like Trotski said in one of his books, The October Revolution was a succes with only a few deads, The mass killing only started with the White Rebellion and because of it so if White had accepted pacificly the new governments, a lot of live would have been spared.
Just to say that Whites weren't the Good Brave Russian Patriot and the Reds the bad evil villain Anti Russia monsters like your writings suggest. There is no Black and White or Good and Evil in this kind of war
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First of all Communism is not only Stalin,Lenin and all of them Bolchevik don t forget that there is a lot of differents movements in Communism with Libertarian type, Original Marxist, and even Socialism which is supposed to be the first step of Communism and also that Bolchevik eventually went really far away from Original and True Communism ( Direct Democracy with Worker's Counsil, Free Access for People to Production Forces, Equality of gender and races, Technological Progress with the goal of developping automatisation for people work less and focus more on their hobbies and stimulation of creative spirit) USSR is the exact opposite of this just by the fact that they had a strong state which controlled everything, in fact USSR was particularly under Stalin more like a Fascist Country withouth the racist ideology.
So yes, USSR is a very bad exemple of Communism but the Ideology is good its just the way it was applyed that was bad ( It was just like the French Revolution, a Social Class took power to another and ended up acting exactly the same) in both case people at the bottom of the pyramid, those who faught were screwed and a new elite was established ( Industrials and other Capitalist for French Revolution and Nomenklatura in USSR)
But still, yes some people who still believe in the True Communism and in the Lucha de Siempre still wear the banner because i repeat this is not the USSR banner but the banner of Communism and of all oppressed people in the world
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Well now enough with politics its an enternainment forum first and in literary point of view you did a very great job congrulations i'm a great fan of HOI4 and alternative history and history in generals so your AAR is a godsend to me so thanks
It is truly awesome and a real masterpiece. Can't wait for the next
Hi, I made this mod. I made the Russian focus tree before the Finnish one, so originally you'd only ever annex Finland. But in the focus tree I made for Finland, I made it so Finland and Sweden could unite. Due to how the code for Anastasia's path was made, you annex the entire nation. This was only my second mod so the code is kind of sloppy in some places. One day I will get around to putting out a patch for that
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A fair surprise to have! For those curious about how Russia was able to eat up both Finland AND Sweden with this event...
Hi, I made this mod. I made the Russian focus tree before the Finnish one, so originally you'd only ever annex Finland. But in the focus tree I made for Finland, I made it so Finland and Sweden could unite. Due to how the code for Anastasia's path was made, you annex the entire nation. This was only my second mod so the code is kind of sloppy in some places. One day I will get around to putting out a patch for that
Yeah, what @R0MMEL said.
Remember earlier in this thread that R0MMEL also confirmed that the uniting of Finland and Sweden in the midst of the big civil war they had was itself a bug involving the Finnish focus tree. Technically, the United Kingdom of Sweden-Finland was not supposed to exist at this moment in the Russian focus tree. So, when Russia demands Finland surrender... it accidentally involves all of Sweden as well. Of course, I had to explain this in-game as Sweden-Finland realizing war with Russia would invariably involve all of the kingdom, rather than just Finland, as well as the fact that Finland and Sweden were uniting themselves as one nation and one culture at this point. (Which, to be fair, is what was going on in-game with their focus tree.) For the record, I checked to see if I could let Sweden be released as a puppet or something, but that wasn't an option - releasing Sweden would have meant losing the Finnish territories as well.
But this is one of the joys of AAR writing... you get to make sense of the stranger moments of gameplay.
In retrospect, I could have used the change owner cheat code and brought Sweden brought. But... well, maybe next time.Maybe I'll do a Swedish AAR in the future to make up for this.
Actually, the first AAR I ever wrote was a HoI1 AAR about Axis Sweden's invasion of Canada. Eh... let's not think about that one...
Yeah, can't argue there...
Funnily enough, Chamberlain is still continuing the UK AI's policy of deconstructing the Empire at this point. Do you know what the focus tree was at this point in the gameplay? What with the major war going on in Europe?
It was assisting South Africa with nationhood.
Because THAT'S the most important thing right now.
Which is sort of how it happened IRL. Sort of. The Soviet Union gobbled up Poland, parts of Romania, the Baltic States, etc., but the one thing everyone remembers is Germany gobbling up everything around its borders. Granted, the Soviet Union didn't annex both Finland AND Sweden, but...
What the Silver Lizard said.
I don't recall if there was an option for war somewhere along this line (it's been a while since I played this part of the game). I was prepared for it, though. And like Wrangel said in the narrative, Sweden-Finland really wasn't all that ready for a war. Even as poorly prepared as the Russian military is, a war against Sweden-Finland probably would have gone in their favor.
In fairness, Russia probably has a greater claim to some of the territory (save maybe Sweden) than Germany had some of their claims, and they haven't done it by breaking any treaties or agreements like Germany did when they invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia after the Sudetenland was given up. Plus... there's a massive war with Germany going on in Europe at the moment, so most nations are probably distracted by that.
In some respects, it's probably providential that Hitler is doing what he's doing at the moment. Otherwise, people might actually care enough to try to stop Anastasia.
Of course the Whites did bad things too. That was one of the things Wrangel fought against IRL, in fact. Of course in war bad things are often done by both sides. However, that doesn't excuse the top leaders of a group giving permission for the murdering an entire family. And when you read the reasons given for the murder of the Tsar's family, they had nothing to do with supposed White atrocities. And I didn't even mention in my writings the other murders and killings committed by the Bolsheviks - often with okay from top leaders - and all of which, once again, had nothing to do with the atrocities or crimes committed by the White faction. Add to this the mass killings that happened under Stalin, and it's easy to see why one of Marx's associates, at a party meeting, waved his hand to those in attendance and told Marx bluntly that if any of these men took power, they would be far worse than the tsar ever was.
As for the accusation that I've portrayed the Whites as "Good Brave Russian Patriots" and the Communists as "bad evil villain Anti Russia monsters" in my writing, I have two things to say:
1) This is a narrative AAR. In the process, of course it's going to become like a story and have heroes and villains. Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast. And we must remember that one of the rules for the AAR forum is to give the authors some leeway in regards to historical accuracy. There are AARs out there where Hitler is the main character, or German generals are, in application, the heroes of the story as they conquer Russia or America and other places. Again, regardless of one's political beliefs, it has to be understood that this is going to be the nature of narrative AARs.
2) I think anyone who reads through this AAR will see I haven't portrayed groups in a comically all good or all bad fashion. The Bolsheviks were portrayed as harsher and more apt to target civilians than the Mensheviks, who mostly targeted the military. Trotsky made peace with the Tsarina and even helped them find Stalin. Trotsky isn't supportive of the murder of the tsar's family, and I even say in a follow up post that I personally don't believe he approved it. One of the first things Anastasia had to do as Tsarina was go after corrupt soldiers who were exploiting the people. Mikhail, Anastasia's husband, was a former Communist soldier who lost family under Tsar Nicholas II, and even almost shot Anastasia for it. Yakov Yurovsky, the very man who carried out the murder of the royal family, is portrayed as a man struggling with the crimes of his past. In the past few chapters, the Tsarina's government has okay'd assassinations, rigged elections, and (in this chapter alone) used military threats to get their way. Judging by the reactions of my readers to all my posts thus far, I think it's fair for me to say that I haven't portrayed the Imperial Government, let alone the military government that came before, in a way that makes them seem like a bunch of goody-two-shoes. The only people I have portrayed as monsters were historical figures who were, quite objectively, moral monsters (eg., Lenin, Stalin, Sverdlov, Goloshchyokin, etc.).
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