With Seven Crowns for Seven Brothers: an AAR for KR

[Moskva]

Who? Me?

Nah, in reality I don't know how to take screenshots in DH, so I don't. The fact that doing it this way is easier is just icing on the cupcake.

Press F11, and the screenshots appear in the DH folder. To know if you've successfully taken a screen, watch the flag over a unit. If it stops waving for an instant, one was taken.

 

[Battle bunny]

Press F11, and the screenshots appear in the DH folder. To know if you've successfully taken a screen, watch the flag over a unit. If it stops waving for an instant, one was taken.

The problem with that is that sometimes, DH just won't take the screenshot. For example, I think that when an event popup is active, F11 doesn't work.

 

[KaiserWilhelmI]

The problem with that is that sometimes, DH just won't take the screenshot. For example, I think that when an event popup is active, F11 doesn't work.

Yeah, F11 does not work with pop-ups, I use Print screen button for them.

 

[Ab Ovo]

1938-1940​

[Note: I... I don't know where 1938 went. I just really paid attention to the date now {in July}, and noticed that it was 1939. So, just assuming that nothing happened in 1938, this update will go into 1940.]

January 5 39 - Gerhard von Holtz, German ambassador to Italy, is cravenly assassinated by Romanian Iron Guard activist Costache Popescu. German relations with the Iron Guard regime had been strained for some time by the nationalisation of the Ploesti oilfields in 1936, and while there was no evidence that von Holtz's assassination was approved of the the Iron Guard government, the German people cry out for war. Scrapping plans for an invasion of Ireland, OKW approves an intervention into the Romanian Civil War using allied troops

January 25 39 - a joint blitzkrieg offensive conducted by Ukraine and Austria-Hungary quickly puts an end to Iron Guard belligerence. The restoration of King Carol to the Romanian throne in the north was recognised by German authority, but Codreanu was allowed to retain power in an independent Iron Guard Wallachia; albeit as Governor-General for His Majesty August Wilhelm of Wallachia. Prince August Wilhelm refused to decamp to live in his new Kingdom, and in fact advocated with his fellow GDVP members that it be annexed. The Kaiser quickly seized on his son's new Sovereign status to excise him from German politics, on the excuse that it would be improper for a monarch to interfere; and the Prince is quietly sidelined.

Prince August Wilhelm, now His Majesty King of Wallachia​

April 13 38 - The German aristocratic Prince Wilhelm of Albania is overthrown by his ambitious Prime Minister Zogu. The Sublime Porte recognised the new king without and qualms, but German ties to the Principality ran deep, dating back to its establishment before the Weltkrieg; and not only did the Kaiserreich consider herself Albania's protector, but opinion was incensed by the regicide of the Prince himself. In what was anticipated to be a lightning-quick campaign, the Reichstag passed, and the Kaiser promulgated, a decree calling for the restoration of a friendly government in Albania. Allied troops marched across the border between Albania and Austria-Hungary shortly thereafter.

April 22 38 - Much to the unbridled dismay of Berlin, who had planned to install Prince Oskar von Hohenzollern as the new Prince of Albania, Austria-Hungary announces the annexation of Albania as soon as her troops seize Tirana. The Foreign Office issues a weak reprimand, but as the ultimate objective -- the restoration of a friendly government of Albania -- has admittedly been achieved, no stronger action is taken.

July 5 39 - the French envoy to the Kaiserreich presents an ultimatum to Berlin: either hand over the Imperial Territory of Elsaß-Lothringen or face war. While this was an exceedingly poor time for France to make their move, as allied German troops were preparing to invade the Don-Kuban Union to press Ukrainian claims, it was clear that Germany could not possibly accept such an outrageous ultimatum. The Kaiser roundly rejected these demands in a personal audience with the French envoy, and France delivered a declaration of war the next day. The Second Weltkrieg had begun.

July 9 39 - France declares war on the Habsburg-ruled Kingdom of Italy, intent on regaining Nice and apparently jumpstarting the final stages of the International Revolution. This relieves pressure on the German troops along the border as another front is opened, although the ability of the Italians to withstand pressure from both the French and, inevitably, the Neapolitans, is questionable at best.

July 10 39 - the Union of Britain declares war, as expected, on the Kaiserreich; aiding "the glorious, storied cause of the Revolution."

August 7 39 - The French steamroll into Piedmont, taking Prince Amadeo of Sardegna-Piemonte as a prisoner of war and moving troops into the Po River basin. Along with the lightning offenses of the Socialist Republic of Italy into Romagna and Latium the Syndicalists look poised to knock Italy out of the war by October. The King of Italy is a hostage of the Neapolitans, but Stephen X flees north with members of the government to Bologna. This dismaying news cannot dampen the Kaiserreich however, as German troops take advantage of the gap in French defenses at Belmont to pour south into the country, attempting to cut off French forces in the peninsula from the rest of the country. Unfortunately the French defensive line across the northern Rhine holds firm, precluding a drive to Paris.

Socialist Italian troops entering Rome​

September 4 39 - The Kingdom of Italy is reduced to a slice of Toscana and the heavily-fought over region of Bergamo, as France devotes the majority of the People's Army to the offensive in the Italian peninsula. Evidently supposed to have been a quick offensive to secure historic French territory and gain assurances against an Austrian attack through Italy; the campaign instead took valuable troops away from the front with Germany, turning what was supposed to be an offensive war into a defensive war. Now it was too late, as the OKW delightedly took full advantage of the French distraction and drove south in a blitzkrieg which effectively cut the country in two. The steady French defensive line along the northern Rhine withdrew to form a defensive circle around Paris as German troops reached the Seine, and General Secretary Nestor Makhno called upon the French people to enlist in citizen guards for the salvation of the revolution.
October 15 39 -- By now, France was nearly entirely occupied by the Kaiserreich; in a triumph dwarfing the First Weltkrieg entirely. The People's Army was divided in two, in a pocket around Normandy defending Paris and in the heavily-beleagured Italian territories; which were engulfed in constant fighting and skirmishing. OKW confidently predicted that the war would be over by Christmas.

November 7 39 -- A series of quick victories against tired and demoralised French troops in Italy elimated French forces in the area, securing the region for Mitteleuropa and the eventual drive against the Socialist Republic of Italy. Meanwhile the remainder of the People's Army in Normandy concentrated in Paris itself to prepare for the final, and most climactic, battle of the war.

December 12 39 - the Kingdom of Italy announces the reunification of the peninsula under its rule, as German forces advance on Paris.

January 11 40 - the First Battle of Paris ends after a month of fighting and urban warfare in a mortifying defeat. Not only did the OKW's predictions of an early end to the war fall flat, but over two-hundred thousand Germans lay dead in the streets and alleyways of Paris. For all that, however, several French armies involved in the defense had been all but annihilated; and Berlin ordered a force withdrawal from the theatre to prepare for a second, renewed attack.
January 24 40 - the Second Battle of Paris begins.

February 24 40 - After another month, and another two-hundred thousand casualties, Paris falls to the Kaiserreich. General Secretary Mahkno was eventually reduced to hiding in an underground bunker, where he was later found dead by his own hand, as the French defenses of the city were eventually reduced to children carrying anti-tank missiles, and conscripted members of the "Citizen's Guards" who were often the elderly or women fighting with whatever weapon they had to hand. Imperial German troops marched proudly under the pockmarked Arc de Triomphe, and Berlin announced the temporary occupation and annexation of France, pending reorganisation. Parades and celebrations broke out across Germany, Mitteleuropa, and the free world, knowing that the greatest monster of Syndicalism had been defeated.

Members of La Garde des citoyens, mostly children, being awarded the People's Cross by a French commander during the Second Battle of Paris​

March 11 40 - A white peace is concluded with the Union of Britain the same day that the general reorganisation of France goes into effect. The former Commune of France is divided into three parts: the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of Occitania, and the Grand Duchy of Brittany. Ruled over by Princes Oskar, Joachim, and Boniface Wilhelm respectively; the three countries neatly divided up former France into northern, southern, and western halves respectively; ensuring that no one of them could ever conceivably become a threat.

 

[Ab Ovo]

Note: seeing as my aim has been achieved, I stopped the update early. Now I will decide which member of Mitteleuropa to continue the game as.

 

[Nikolai]

The evil machinations of the revolutionaries have fell flat. Good, good!

 

[DKM]

subbed

 

[NikephorosSonar]

Paris is misspelled as Parish and for some reason I saw "Polish" so I was shocked for a moment.

 

[Ab Ovo]

Paris is misspelled as Parish and for some reason I saw "Polish" so I was shocked for a moment.

Corrected, thanks for catching that.

 

[Ab Ovo]

1940-1942​

April 21 40 - High off of the victory in the Second Weltkrieg, the Reichstag approves the long-delayed invasion of the Don-Kuban Union for the benefit of the Ukrainians. Although originally to be carried out with German soldiers, representatives of the Heer refused such plans; saying that the soldiers deserved a long rest and that any war would have to be undertaken with foreign units. Ukrainian forces massed at the border with the Union, and offensive operations began a few days later. The German people were only too pleased to have another war to win, this time with no body-bags returning to the Kaiserreich.

May 11 40 - While the war against the Cossacks was off to a slow start, more pressing domestic matters were brought before the Kaiser and his government. While it was Berlin's hope that granting universal regional suffrage to the women of Germany would quiet the demands of the suffragettes, this did not come to pass. With the Second Weltkrieg, women assumed a prominent role in society as men were away fighting; featuring heavily in propaganda and even working in factories in lieu of their husbands. Now they demanded their rights as citizens, and it would be a scandal to refuse them; when now even their husbands supported their rights to the franchise. The Kaiser issued a special Imperial Decree granting universal suffrage to all German citizens; and special elections were called in several constituent states as a result.

A woman voting in a special election in Prussia​

August 14 40 - The war against the Cossacks comes to an end as the leader of the Union, Petr Krasnov, agrees to enter the Mitteleuropa system and cedes Ukrainian territorial claims to the Kingdom. In order to prove his willingness to serve with Berlin, General Krasnov co-operates with Ukrainian units massed now along the border with Georgia. In the interests of peace and stability, Berlin greenlights the destruction of the Totalist regime there as units move across the border a few weeks later.

December 5 40 - The war against Georgia is concluded, as the Totalist regime is captured in the encirclement of Tbilisi and executed. Among those executed are Lavrentiy Beria, Chairman of the Supreme Economic Council, and his top advisor Ioseb Dzejughashvili; a noted poet and revolutionary who served as Chairman of the People's Military Council. Margaretha von Imeretinsky, a German noblewoman descended from the Imeretinsky family; a family of Russian aristocratic emigres to Germany who in turn descended from the Imereti branch of the House of Bagrationi, the Georgian royal family, was installed on the throne as Queen of Georgia. Two days later, on the 7th, she signed the Treaty of Tbilisi which incorporated Georgia into the Mitteleuropa alliance.

A still image of "Comrade Dzejughashvili" from a Georgian propaganda film​

February 2 41 - The death of strongman Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas in Greece allows King George of Greece to attempt to establish absolute control. While his bid for power, with the help of the Greek Army, is mostly successful it leads to strikes and unrest across the nation, especially Syndicalist activity in the mountains of northern Greece. Unwilling to let the situation devolve any further, the German ambassador to Greece informs His Hellenic Majesty that Mitteleuropa will be staging an intervention to ensure continuing law and order in the country.

June 5 41 - As Greek forces began to collapse, heartbreaking news: the Kaiser is dead. His Royal and Imperial Majesty passed away in a Berlin hospital. His son, Crown Prince Wilhelm, ascended the throne as Kaiser Wilhelm III as soon as his father passed away; with a coronation scheduled for a week later. In the meantime, a week of mourning was declared in the Kaiserreich and days of mourning were declared across Mitteleuropa. Telegrams of condolences poured in from nations around the world; but the war in Greece went on. Der Kaiser ist tot, es lebe der Kaiser!

His Royal and Imperial Majesty Wilhelm III meeting with Adolf Hitler, an Austrian immigrant made famous for his wartime service memoir Mein Kampf​

July 5 41 -The restoration of order in Greece is completed. Staunch Greek resistance to the benevolent German intervention results in a harsher treaty then would have otherwise been negotiated; the terms of which including the strategic Aegean island of Khalkis being ceded to Austria-Hungary, and the restoration of the Cretan State under German suzerainty, but in the end Greece became the newest addition to the Mitteleuropa alliance. The ascension of Wilhelm III may have signaled a less expansionist foreign policy than that of his father, partially in order to combat rising dissent, but German domination of the continent was essentially unchallenged.

November 17 41 - In order to address an economy which is slowly beginning to decline due to the constant, brutal, and unceasing wars which were prosecuted in the last years of Wilhelm II, the Imperial Cabinet meets in a secret conference in Berlin. There, Finance Minister Hjalmar Schacht unveiled a proposal he had been working on for years: the Kaiserbund project. One of the reasons the German economy was struggling was the vast colonial administration which sapped economic strength and sent billions of Reichsmarks down the drain each year. In order to reduce costs, Germany would grant autonomy to her colonies as quasi-states, similar to pre-First Weltkrieg British dominions, cutting down colonial costs and transferring to native administrations while still retaining control over their military and foreign policies and keeping the Kaiser as Head of State over the collective Kaiserbund. While the Cabinet seemed inclined to do no more than mark it as interesting, Schacht had plans for his proposal...

Hjalmar Schacht secured his place in German history as the primary architect of the Kaiserbund proposal​

December 7 41 - In a surprise to the members of the Imperial Cabinet, but not to most of Berlin's political operators, the "Kaiserbund Bill" is introduced to the Reichstag for a vote; sponsored by the Fortschrittliche Volkspartei and the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands. Although wildly unpopular with the DVP and GDVP, it managed to squeak by after members of Zentrum and the Deutschkonservatives broke party ranks to vote for the bill. Although many pressured the Kaiser not to grant Imperial Assent, or even to dissolve the Reichstag, Wilhelm III refused to "so blatantly disregard the will of my subjects and their representatives" and duly signed it into law the next day.

December 10 41 - As the Kaiserbund project is implemented, many German colonies, from Vietnam to Morocco, gain their independence; each acknowledging the Kaiser as Emperor and each with the Imperial tricolour in the canton. However, the status of several special or strategic territories still need to be decided; foremost among these being the gargantuan Free State of Mittelafrika. Many members of the Reichstag desire that it be broken up into smaller states, to lessen the strain on German financial and military resources, while others advocate it be made into a federation within the federation of the Kaiserbund. Still others, especially the GDVP of which Mittelafrika's Staatminister, Herman Goering, is a member, advocate that it continue unchanged. Eventually it is decided that Mittelafrika is to be reorganised into the African Union, a loose nominal federation of three African states (Namibia, Benikongo, and the Bantu Federation) within the larger federation of the Kaiserbund. The GDVP stages a walkout of the Reichstag in response. The spirit of the Kaiserbund does not extend to Malta, however, as a plan to grant it autonomy is shot down after unbearable pressure is applied by the General Staff which argues that its immense strategic value merits being kept under immense control. Meanwhile the A.O.G. in southern China is reorganised to better incorporate itself into the Kaiserbund, and actually gains less autonomy than it had previously enjoyed. German Somaliland is granted independence as well, over the strenuous objections of the Kriegsmarine, but Southern Aden is retained as a concession to the Admiralty.

A soldier from the new Bantu Federation, proudly bearing the banner of the Kaiserbund for Gott, Kaiser und Vaterland​

December 26 41 - The St. Stephen's Day Riots break out in Danzig, as Prussian conservative elements infuriated by the Kaiserbund take to the streets to demonstrate their displeasure; firing upon policemen and generally causing mayhem. Local units of the army had to be sent in to deal with this, an almost unprecedented occurrence for a disturbance in Germany proper. Yet it was symptomatic of a huge recent spike in dissent and discontent; fueled by the failing economy and the rather extreme lengths which the Government went to to try to stave off another Great Depression. The defeat and partition of France, the arrival into Mitteleuropa of the Cossacks, Georgia, and Greece, the coronation of a young and handsome new Kaiser, and even the creation of the Kaiserbund should have all signaled what was perhaps the apogee of German power, influence, and prestige and yet Germans across the Kaiserreich were seriously discontented. How that would come to manifest itself in the coming years was anyone's guess...

 

[Ab Ovo]

Thus marks the end of With Seven Crowns for Seven Brothers, and the launch of my "new" AAR, which is just this one, but rotating every two years among the nations of the Kaiserbund; with various perspectives on events in the Kaiserbund itself, in the mother country, and domestic events. It's a concept I originally wanted to try out with Austria and her puppet dominions at game start, but will rather test drive here.

The Colonial Whirl
An AAR in the Kaiserbund

"Ihre Karte von Afrika ist ja sehr schön, aber meine Karte von Afrika liegt in Europa. Hier liegt Rußland, und hier liegt Frankreich, und wir sind in der Mitte; das ist meine Karte von Afrika."
-- Otto von Bismark​

 

[OnFire]

Good idea! Keep it up.

Could you maybe post a map?

 

[Nikolai]

Nice, good idea. Will you continue the "new" AAR inside this thread or in a new one?