This is my first AAR.
I used Armageddon '36 GC as Italy on Normal Difficulty, Aggressive AI, Full Tech Team Takeover, and NO Full IC Takeover. I had planned to write this early last year; i had all the screenshots taken and had gathered a bunch of photos to complement the story (because it really was an amazing game...), but then HOI3 came out, and i kind of forgot about it.
In any case, i did not use any cheats or mods; however, i did tweak some of the province tiles (adding a few more urban areas and adding cropped photos to take the place of the stock urban pic) to areas that i thought should be represented as such.
Anyway, here goes.
Mussolini dropped a black leather-bound folder from his gloved hand onto the large rectangular table around which his various ministers and deputies stood at attention, their right arms raised in salute. His apparent disgust over the contents of the folder was clearly evident by the manner in which he held himself; a palpable look of petulant disgust was plastered over his face, and his glowering eyes ranged over those in attendance as if searching for prey, though he stood without the audible grunting and seething anger of a more barbaric man. No, Il Duce clearly intended to make an example of someone, but neither raw emotion nor petty rivalry had anything to do with his decision. After a few moments of bitter unease among all present, the fascist dictator’s unflinching gaze lowered and fixed on the leather-clad black folder before him, his furrowed brow and swelled chest seemed to suggest that he would erupt at the first noise to shatter the uncomfortable silence hanging over the room. In fact, it was almost as if he was hoping someone would do just that.
The fascist ministers knew their place, however, and after a suitable amount of time had passed in his mind, Mussolini moved to pull his own chair out from the table, to which his dazed attendants belatedly rushed to assist him. After sitting and opening the leather folder, he proceeded to methodically lambast the current cabinet for their failure to adequately prepare Italy for impending conflict.
Despite the success that the fascist movement had fermented throughout the post-Depression nation (relative to its neighbors, of course), the Kingdom of Italy still remained a minor power in the eyes of the world, and this was something that Mussolini had long intended to rectify. While the Regia Marina (the Italian battle fleet) still held sway over most of the Mediterranean with its modest complement of WW1-era battleships, the combined force of Italian arms in regards to the Air Force and Army were grossly inadequate to Il Duce’s perception of the glorious Roman Empire reborn. It was the destiny of the Italian Empire to dominate the shores of the Mediterranean, and enemies encroached upon its many beaches threatened to restrain and subdue that glory. The military review for 1936, as detailed in the leather folder now strewn open on the table, served to only further weaken Italy’s position through decreased military spending and additional support for pressing social reform, and for one, Mussolini could not dismiss the possibility that foreign agents had corrupted some of his own cabinet in hopes of further denuding Italian military capability.
But the news was not all bad, at least in regards to Italy’s potential resurgence. Several members of Mussolini’s government were widely-regarded as pioneers of sorts in their respective fields; all were shrewd politicians capable of cementing their positions within the cutthroat fascist hierarchy, each with their own sycophantic deputies that would ensure (sometimes even with the threat of physical force) that things got done. Mostly raised in the wake of the Risorgimento, or the Italian unification of the 1870s, most believed to varying degrees in the righteous ascendancy of the Italian nation, and as such fervently believed in the reclamation of the far-flung Irredenta (or ‘unredeemed’ Italian lands) and in the regional Mediterranean dominance akin to what their Roman forefathers had accomplished two millennia prior. Nevertheless, regional schisms in the recent additions to the country (notably in the Veneto and in Dalmatia), ecclesiastical meddling in supposedly temporal affairs, and a wide range of differences across the political spectrum (especially from the recently-squelched yet ever-popular socialist faction) threatened to mire Italy in the doldrums of global insignificance.
Moreover, Italy’s modest population growth and nascent industrial base, coupled with its substantial need for imported coal and other vital raw materials, and a chronic need to update its outdated military tactics and officer training methodology, led to a widespread belief within the Commando Supremo that any effort to resurrect the old Empire was simply out of the question for the time being. This was the conclusion outlined in the leather folder in front of Mussolini, and the reason for his apparent rage; he had not struggled for 15 years against enemies both foreign and domestic to be told that the future was bleak and would only get worse.
By the time the afternoon’s meeting ended, there had been striking alterations made to Italy’s national goals. A program of rearmament was initiated, including the raising of 20 new infantry divisions, to pacify the rebellious natives of the Italian colonies in Tripolitania (and to form the veteran officer cadres that, it was hoped, would become the backbone of eventual armies that would force the British and French out of North Africa). Research was also started into the field of new models of armored vehicles that might prove useful in the featureless terrain of the northern Sahara desert; Minister of Finance Guido Jung was tasked with forming a collaborative relationship with officers in the German Wehrmacht in an attempt to develop vehicles that might be of use to both nations. As Germany had apparently enjoyed significant good luck in elevating their economy via nationalization and investment in war industries, so Mussolini believed that Italy could replicate the fortune that had blessed their fascist brothers in the Reich to the north, and he demanded that efforts be made to emulate many of their more effective examples. Guido Jung was also authorized to conduct trade agreements with German Minister of Economics Hjalmer Schacht, in hopes of establishing beneficial trade agreements and new technology collaboration.
One area in which Italy would strike out on its own without the help of the Germans would be in the area of naval operations. Mussolini desperately wanted to modernize the Regia Marina, knowing that his navy was the key to dominance in the Mediterranean Sea. Though desperate to increase the fleet in both size and power at the earliest opportunity, Mussolini was pressured by his admirals and industrial ministers to grow slowly but deliberately, thereby taking advantage of new technologies and equipment that would arise naturally. After several hours of bitter arguments, Mussolini eventually relented and signed off on a single series of modern battleships, which would be christened the Littorio class, and which would easily be the equal of any ship in the world currently afloat. The Littorio class would incorporate faster engines, better armor protection, rudimentary radar, lavish anti-aircraft armament, and the largest canon ever designed for a warship at 15 cm. Construction of the lead ship of the class, the Vittorio Veneto, named after a northern Italian village triumphantly recaptured in the waning days of WWI, would be started immediately. Furthermore, Mussolini planned to use the existing battleship fleet (which he presumed would not see much use for some time) dispersed among the transport fleets; as the old WW1-era Cavour-class battleships, in particular the Andrea Doria, Conte de Cavour, Giulio Cesare, and Ciao Duilio, had a flank speed roughly equivalent to the transports, and would be able to provide close in support from surface ships, aircraft, and also be able to support beach landings immediately with fire directed from forward observers (as opposed to fleet battleships, which might range miles away from the landing forces). Communication improvements between the battleships and amphibious assault command and control systems would be improved to this effect, though the ships themselves would not receive additional weaponry or other modifications.
RM Vittorio Veneto
Side and Above View of Littorio ClassBut Mussolini had even more sweeping ideas for control of the Mediterranean; with a mark of a pen, 10 of the oldest WWI-era destroyers in the fleet were slated for decommissioning, and work was begun on a new class of faster, longer range destroyers with improved detection capabilities. Several squadrons of new, land-based naval attack bombers were also ordered of a 4-engine type, giving them greater loiter times, increased payload, and increased range. Airfields around the Tyrrhenian Sea were to be upgraded to accommodate the new bombers; runways were expanded near Cagliari in Sardinia, Taranto around the great naval base, and near Palermo along the north coast of Sicily. Perhaps most significant, however, was Mussolini’s directive that research be directed into creating a class of fleet aircraft carriers capable of extending Italy’s domination throughout the region and beyond; with no willing partners in this enterprise, Italy would have to blaze a new trail in this area, starting from scratch with no guarantee of results despite a high level of investment and time necessary to develop the project. The Cantieri Navali Riuniti shipyards in Trieste were tasked with the design and development of a prototype fleet carrier within 3 years.
Despite the material shortfalls, heavy industrial growth was needed to support such a wide range of intensive projects, and it was thought that political and technological endeavors would only partially compensate for the lack of resources. Though advances in industrial technology would help offset some of the inherit inefficiency (i.e. masses of unskilled labor) of Italian production, Mussolini felt that direct involvement was necessary and directed the Kingdom to directly fund plant expansions for the existing Beretta complex in Brescia (outside of Milan), and to fund additional manufacturing complexes at the FIAT plant in Turin as well. Despite the already disproportionately high concentration of heavy industry in the Northwestern region of the country (roughly a triangle formed between Turin, Genoa, and Milan), Mussolini reasoned that the new developments would have a greater effect if placed in close proximity to other heavy manufacturing centers, thereby taking advantage of well-established infrastructure and of closer proximity to large ports and resource concentrations. However, wary of the blooming target that he was creating, Mussolini further strengthened anti-aircraft defenses in both Milan and Turin; many would call his industrial concentration reckless, and further, needlessly rigid. Many locations in the South, some of his ministers argued, had comparable access to resources and transport, and would benefit far greater than the already-prosperous northwest, but he was not to be swayed by petty local loyalties.
Mirafiori FIAT plant, Turin
Before additional disparaging remarks could be made, and more importantly before he agreed to any additional concessions, Mussolini closed the folder and stood up, compelling his compatriots to do the same. The groundwork had thus been laid for the resurrection of the Empire, and many things across the peninsula would soon be changing; many harbored genuine excitement and optimism about the future, though there were a roughly equal number of ministers that felt that the price in blood would be far too steep to justify.
Mussolini addresses the masses
I used Armageddon '36 GC as Italy on Normal Difficulty, Aggressive AI, Full Tech Team Takeover, and NO Full IC Takeover. I had planned to write this early last year; i had all the screenshots taken and had gathered a bunch of photos to complement the story (because it really was an amazing game...), but then HOI3 came out, and i kind of forgot about it.
In any case, i did not use any cheats or mods; however, i did tweak some of the province tiles (adding a few more urban areas and adding cropped photos to take the place of the stock urban pic) to areas that i thought should be represented as such.
Anyway, here goes.
Mussolini’s approach was instantly recognizable to the members of the Commando Supremo, better known as the Italian general staff; the methodically-repetitive echo of his heavy boots against the marble hallway betrayed the restrained hurry of a man impatient to reach his destination, yet careful enough to preserve the prestige of his lofty position. Two aides, accustomed to his methods and patterns, moved to open the heavy oak doors leading into the war room without allowing Il Duce to alter his distinctive gait.Mussolini dropped a black leather-bound folder from his gloved hand onto the large rectangular table around which his various ministers and deputies stood at attention, their right arms raised in salute. His apparent disgust over the contents of the folder was clearly evident by the manner in which he held himself; a palpable look of petulant disgust was plastered over his face, and his glowering eyes ranged over those in attendance as if searching for prey, though he stood without the audible grunting and seething anger of a more barbaric man. No, Il Duce clearly intended to make an example of someone, but neither raw emotion nor petty rivalry had anything to do with his decision. After a few moments of bitter unease among all present, the fascist dictator’s unflinching gaze lowered and fixed on the leather-clad black folder before him, his furrowed brow and swelled chest seemed to suggest that he would erupt at the first noise to shatter the uncomfortable silence hanging over the room. In fact, it was almost as if he was hoping someone would do just that.
The fascist ministers knew their place, however, and after a suitable amount of time had passed in his mind, Mussolini moved to pull his own chair out from the table, to which his dazed attendants belatedly rushed to assist him. After sitting and opening the leather folder, he proceeded to methodically lambast the current cabinet for their failure to adequately prepare Italy for impending conflict.
Despite the success that the fascist movement had fermented throughout the post-Depression nation (relative to its neighbors, of course), the Kingdom of Italy still remained a minor power in the eyes of the world, and this was something that Mussolini had long intended to rectify. While the Regia Marina (the Italian battle fleet) still held sway over most of the Mediterranean with its modest complement of WW1-era battleships, the combined force of Italian arms in regards to the Air Force and Army were grossly inadequate to Il Duce’s perception of the glorious Roman Empire reborn. It was the destiny of the Italian Empire to dominate the shores of the Mediterranean, and enemies encroached upon its many beaches threatened to restrain and subdue that glory. The military review for 1936, as detailed in the leather folder now strewn open on the table, served to only further weaken Italy’s position through decreased military spending and additional support for pressing social reform, and for one, Mussolini could not dismiss the possibility that foreign agents had corrupted some of his own cabinet in hopes of further denuding Italian military capability.
But the news was not all bad, at least in regards to Italy’s potential resurgence. Several members of Mussolini’s government were widely-regarded as pioneers of sorts in their respective fields; all were shrewd politicians capable of cementing their positions within the cutthroat fascist hierarchy, each with their own sycophantic deputies that would ensure (sometimes even with the threat of physical force) that things got done. Mostly raised in the wake of the Risorgimento, or the Italian unification of the 1870s, most believed to varying degrees in the righteous ascendancy of the Italian nation, and as such fervently believed in the reclamation of the far-flung Irredenta (or ‘unredeemed’ Italian lands) and in the regional Mediterranean dominance akin to what their Roman forefathers had accomplished two millennia prior. Nevertheless, regional schisms in the recent additions to the country (notably in the Veneto and in Dalmatia), ecclesiastical meddling in supposedly temporal affairs, and a wide range of differences across the political spectrum (especially from the recently-squelched yet ever-popular socialist faction) threatened to mire Italy in the doldrums of global insignificance.
Moreover, Italy’s modest population growth and nascent industrial base, coupled with its substantial need for imported coal and other vital raw materials, and a chronic need to update its outdated military tactics and officer training methodology, led to a widespread belief within the Commando Supremo that any effort to resurrect the old Empire was simply out of the question for the time being. This was the conclusion outlined in the leather folder in front of Mussolini, and the reason for his apparent rage; he had not struggled for 15 years against enemies both foreign and domestic to be told that the future was bleak and would only get worse.
By the time the afternoon’s meeting ended, there had been striking alterations made to Italy’s national goals. A program of rearmament was initiated, including the raising of 20 new infantry divisions, to pacify the rebellious natives of the Italian colonies in Tripolitania (and to form the veteran officer cadres that, it was hoped, would become the backbone of eventual armies that would force the British and French out of North Africa). Research was also started into the field of new models of armored vehicles that might prove useful in the featureless terrain of the northern Sahara desert; Minister of Finance Guido Jung was tasked with forming a collaborative relationship with officers in the German Wehrmacht in an attempt to develop vehicles that might be of use to both nations. As Germany had apparently enjoyed significant good luck in elevating their economy via nationalization and investment in war industries, so Mussolini believed that Italy could replicate the fortune that had blessed their fascist brothers in the Reich to the north, and he demanded that efforts be made to emulate many of their more effective examples. Guido Jung was also authorized to conduct trade agreements with German Minister of Economics Hjalmer Schacht, in hopes of establishing beneficial trade agreements and new technology collaboration.
One area in which Italy would strike out on its own without the help of the Germans would be in the area of naval operations. Mussolini desperately wanted to modernize the Regia Marina, knowing that his navy was the key to dominance in the Mediterranean Sea. Though desperate to increase the fleet in both size and power at the earliest opportunity, Mussolini was pressured by his admirals and industrial ministers to grow slowly but deliberately, thereby taking advantage of new technologies and equipment that would arise naturally. After several hours of bitter arguments, Mussolini eventually relented and signed off on a single series of modern battleships, which would be christened the Littorio class, and which would easily be the equal of any ship in the world currently afloat. The Littorio class would incorporate faster engines, better armor protection, rudimentary radar, lavish anti-aircraft armament, and the largest canon ever designed for a warship at 15 cm. Construction of the lead ship of the class, the Vittorio Veneto, named after a northern Italian village triumphantly recaptured in the waning days of WWI, would be started immediately. Furthermore, Mussolini planned to use the existing battleship fleet (which he presumed would not see much use for some time) dispersed among the transport fleets; as the old WW1-era Cavour-class battleships, in particular the Andrea Doria, Conte de Cavour, Giulio Cesare, and Ciao Duilio, had a flank speed roughly equivalent to the transports, and would be able to provide close in support from surface ships, aircraft, and also be able to support beach landings immediately with fire directed from forward observers (as opposed to fleet battleships, which might range miles away from the landing forces). Communication improvements between the battleships and amphibious assault command and control systems would be improved to this effect, though the ships themselves would not receive additional weaponry or other modifications.
RM Vittorio Veneto
Side and Above View of Littorio Class
Despite the material shortfalls, heavy industrial growth was needed to support such a wide range of intensive projects, and it was thought that political and technological endeavors would only partially compensate for the lack of resources. Though advances in industrial technology would help offset some of the inherit inefficiency (i.e. masses of unskilled labor) of Italian production, Mussolini felt that direct involvement was necessary and directed the Kingdom to directly fund plant expansions for the existing Beretta complex in Brescia (outside of Milan), and to fund additional manufacturing complexes at the FIAT plant in Turin as well. Despite the already disproportionately high concentration of heavy industry in the Northwestern region of the country (roughly a triangle formed between Turin, Genoa, and Milan), Mussolini reasoned that the new developments would have a greater effect if placed in close proximity to other heavy manufacturing centers, thereby taking advantage of well-established infrastructure and of closer proximity to large ports and resource concentrations. However, wary of the blooming target that he was creating, Mussolini further strengthened anti-aircraft defenses in both Milan and Turin; many would call his industrial concentration reckless, and further, needlessly rigid. Many locations in the South, some of his ministers argued, had comparable access to resources and transport, and would benefit far greater than the already-prosperous northwest, but he was not to be swayed by petty local loyalties.
Mirafiori FIAT plant, Turin
Before additional disparaging remarks could be made, and more importantly before he agreed to any additional concessions, Mussolini closed the folder and stood up, compelling his compatriots to do the same. The groundwork had thus been laid for the resurrection of the Empire, and many things across the peninsula would soon be changing; many harbored genuine excitement and optimism about the future, though there were a roughly equal number of ministers that felt that the price in blood would be far too steep to justify.
Mussolini addresses the masses
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