로마는 하루아침에 이루어진 것이 아니다 ~ A Republic of Korea AAR.

[stnylan]

No worries

 

[RV-Ye]

Chapter VII: Foreign and Domestic developments. (Part I)
"Events are not a matter of chance." - Gamal Abdel Nasser, former president of Egypt.
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After the foreign policy blunders that took place before Stalin died, the Soviet Troika was decided to improve the Soviet Union's standing amongst the other countries. They wanted to achieve foreign policy goals in order to leave behind the last failures under Stalin. The most prominent ones being the defeat of communism in Korea and the lost opportunities regarding Germany and Iran. However, the Troika had shown an important success, after all, the whole of Indochina had been united by a pro-Soviet Vietnamese government.

But the Soviet Union didn't have enough with Indochina, the Troika knew that the Middle East was a complex region and one with an impressive potential. After all, several governments in the region were unpopular and those nations had been basically created by United Kingdom and France, there was a chance to sway them towards the Soviet camp. That wouldn't be an easy task, after all, in words of Troika member Georgy Malenkov "in Nasser we've got an ally, we have to focus on Egypt and the whole Middle East will be ours."

Voroshilov and Bulganin agreed on Malenkov's position, after all, both of them were more concerned about the situation developing in Poland. Some kind of de-Stalinization was brewing up in the country, while Bulganin insisted that it wasn't necessary to intervene in Polish affairs, Voroshilov claimed that it threatened the whole stability of the Warsaw Pact. Soon, Voroshilov started defending publicly the legacy of Stalin and in this he found support from Vyacheslav Molotov along Georgy Malenkov, after supporting Voroshilov soon Malenkov decided to play his cards with Egypt.

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Koubbeh Palace, Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt. ~ April 27th, 1956.

KGB operative, Yuliya Lyashenko was attending an important meeting at the Koubbeh Palace, she was accompanying Daniel Solod, the Soviet ambassador to Egypt, along a larger delegation representing the Soviet Union. She was pretending to be her secretary, a role she didn't like at all but one that had been useful. They had been able to get a wider view of the situation Egypt was in and they had been able to understand that swaying Egypt towards the Soviet camp was actually feasible.

After the United States refused to supply the country with weapons, Nasser received the Soviet proposal of trading weaponry for Egyptian grain and cotton. But that wasn't all of it, the Soviet delegation was now offering economic aid in order to start the High Dam project that Nasser wanted. She wasn't very sure of her role at that meeting, after all, it seemed to be only about diplomatic and economic affairs. But she was clearly enjoying the dinner.

"President Nasser, the Soviet Union is willing to provide economic support with a favourable interest rate for your country. We have the opportunity to improve the relations between our countries and I dare to say that it's something way better than what you would get from the Americans." ~ after Solod had finished his sentence, Yuliya managed to see that Nasser wasn't happy when hearing about the Americans.

Of course, it made sense, they were not only refusing to provide weapons to Egypt or substantial economic aid for the Aswan Dam. They were closely tied to the British, the owners of the Suez Canal and soon it all became clear. She wasn't there to get information about the Dam project or about Nasser's opinion of the West. The Soviet Union not only wanted to know if Egypt was willing to become their partner in the Middle East, they wanted to know if Nasser had plans regarding the nationalization of the Suez Canal.

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Modern History: Korea. - Wade Barnett.

Pak Hon-yong had been president Cho's first candidate for the vice presidency, however, several issues eventually made him prefer Kim Kyu-sik over him.
​

Choosing a partner for the elections had been an authentic mess, his popularity was high enough to guarantee that he would be the winner of the elections. Giving him officially his first term in office as an elected president, however, before the elections took place there were several challenges his party met and all of them were related to the issue of picking a suitable candidate for vice president.

Chang Myon had been a powerless prime minister after president Rhee had been shot, Cho Bong-am was selected to be president in an attempt to stabilize the country after the mess it went through following the end of the war. The elections meant that the Provisional Government for Peace would be finished, so Chang Myon would be able to run for the presidential race. However, an important change was announced to the constitution as the prime minister position was eliminated while the vice presidency was strengthened.

This is widely considered to be de jure start of the Second Korean Republic, while the de facto start was back in December 20th, 1951. The constitutional change clarified the situation about the presidential succession, as before it both positions were quite weak due to Rhee's authoritarianism. Therefore, president Cho started searching for suitable candidates, he knew that victory was more than assured but he still tried to find someone not too radical in order to keep the trust of the army and the most conservative members of society.

He had several choices, but by mid-March there were two prominent names in his list of possible candidates:

• Chung Chil-sung; an independence activist, dancer and feminist. She was a socialist but not as radical as others, president Cho considered that having her as vice president would be an important step for the progressive movement in Korea. However, his main advisors suggested to look for a better option, as there were zero chances that the conservative members would accept a woman in such a high position even if there was already one at the State Council.

• Pak Hon-yong; an independence activist, politician and widely known Communist activist. President Cho was aware of the reputation he had, after all, he was one of the main leaders of the Communist movement in Korea during the Japanese rule. But that wasn't the black stain on his record, after negotiations failed between North and South Korea he chose to stay in the north and he eventually became part of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea govenment. President Cho considered him as a viable choice, in his words "having him as my vice president will prove that reconciliation is the only way we can move forward."

When he spoke about it with the State Council, everyone opposed the idea of Pak Hon-yong being the vice president of the country. After all, even if forgiveness was the rule of the day, he was still a communist and many feared that if he managed to reach the presidency Korea would end up being a pawn of the Soviet Union. Therefore, president Cho once again had to tear down his list, it was proving to be a tough decision, but he suddenly received positive news.

One of his advisors had been able to locate Kim Kyu-sik, an important politician, academic and once the leader of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. He was quite popular even if he had retired from politics after the negotiations to unify the peninsula failed, during the Korean War he was kidnapped and after he was saved by an American unit he simply disappeared from public life. Finding him was like a blessing for president Cho, after all, if he could convince him of running with him they would be unbeatable; even more than he already was.

Contact was established between both, meetings took place and before April finished, president Cho announced that his running mate was Kim Kyu-sik. Everyone was surprised at hearing his name, he still had enough popularity to sway even some of Chang Myon voters towards the Progressive Party. However, his support had come at a cost...

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An obscured legacy: Kim Kyu-sik. - Song Tae-woo.

Kim Kyu-sik, president Cho's vice president, independence activist and leader of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
​

After the Korean War ended, Kim Kyu-sik had been freed by American soldiers, he had been held in a prison complex at the north of the peninsula. However, contrary to popular belief at the time, he made no effort to return to politics, in fact, he totally disappeared from the public eye. No one knew where he was or what he was doing, many even thought he had actually died during the war.

However, after he came back to public life, he chose to explain what happened once the war finished. In his words, "the country was a mess, Rhee was spreading chaos and bloodshed through the whole peninsula, I couldn't stand to it. I stayed in the north, I tried to help the people. There were few ways I could be useful to them, but I tried my best."

He witnessed the mess that Korea was in, but most importantly, he saw how chaotic and awful everything was for the northerners. He couldn't resist it, they were being brutally punished and soon those punishments were also being practiced at the south of the peninsula. Taking that into consideration allows us to understand why was he fond of the northerners, after all, they took the worst of the war.

So, when he accepted president Cho's proposal to join him in the presidential race, he made only one petition. He really wanted to see the north of the peninsula improve, be integrated politically as many politicians at the south still regarded them as enemies, traitors or agents from China and the USSR. He knew that Korea was healing, but he really wanted to leave the scars of the Korean War behind.

His only petition was getting Pak Hon-yong as deputy vice president, a position he specially asked to be created. Many thought it wasn't important at all because it would take an impressive amount of sour luck for him to reach presidency.

As former president [unreadable, the name was covered by spilled ink] said, "vice president Kim had good intentions, he really stood for something important back then, however, the context couldn't have been worse."

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Well, here it is!
Apologies if it took long and, yeah, I know this isn't gameplay. But I don't want to make 999 updates about technology developments so, I felt that talking a bit about the political situation (and giving away a small teaser) was a good idea.
I hope you enjoy it.
Also, if there's a country you would like me to cover, ask me and I'll check what can be done. ^^

 

[Specialist290]

Glad to see you back in action

I have a feeling that putting Pak Hon-yong in a high governmental position, no matter how "harmless" it seems, is going to backfire in a rather spectacular way -- though, hopefully, not one that is fatal to the young Republic as a whole.

 

[Ericafaq]

I'm have to say that Asia is perfect place for perfect AAR's

Will glad to see your AARs about India or Pakistan. Nuclear powers, huge population, worthy economic base. What do you think?

Also Australia could be good choice.
IIRC, in NWO mod Australia was developed by man from Australia. Australia has a huge number of events, plus there was an opportunity to provoke a war against communist China and Indonesia

Thanks a lot for your masterpiece. Glad to see you

 

[stnylan]

Yeah, tech only updates can be a drag to write at times.

 

[stevefitz744]

Just caught up with this awesome AAR again and really great work as always...Cold War intrigue is always fun to read

 

[RV-Ye]

Glad to see you back in action

I have a feeling that putting Pak Hon-yong in a high governmental position, no matter how "harmless" it seems, is going to backfire in a rather spectacular way -- though, hopefully, not one that is fatal to the young Republic as a whole.

Thanks It's nice to be back, I'm still trying to keep my mind fresh about ideas for the AAR and all of that.

You'll have to wait to discover that , but we have to agree that appointing someone like him in such a position could be dangerous for the stability of the country.
I haven't actually covered it by now, but I'm orientating a Korean republic kinda similar to the United States, of course there are and will be differences but, some things on the American system were interesting enough for me to consider.

So, well, let's see how will Korea continue with the 50's.

I'm have to say that Asia is perfect place for perfect AAR's

Will glad to see your AARs about India or Pakistan. Nuclear powers, huge population, worthy economic base. What do you think?

Also Australia could be good choice.
IIRC, in NWO mod Australia was developed by man from Australia. Australia has a huge number of events, plus there was an opportunity to provoke a war against communist China and Indonesia

Thanks a lot for your masterpiece. Glad to see you

Hi there Nikita!
It's good to read you ^^

I have to agree with you, certainly the Asian region is one of the most interesting ones. Usually the main focus is directed towards Europe or the United States, that's how I eventually chose to start a Korean AAR. It was something different, after all, Asian AARs in this forum are kinda scarce and most of them deal with Japan or China; I really wanted to take a different angle and a different period, eventually, a Cold War - Korean AAR seemed to tempting and here we are.

India or Pakistan, those two countries sound very interesting to play!
I would like to try one with them, but I'm kinda unsure about which period I'd like to play at. I would love to make a Pakistan AAR in MDS, however, the nuke system in that mod isn't my favourite to be honest and the tech tree has given me a variety of issues on casual gameplays I do.
Therefore, my only option would be covering the Cold War and, well, after I finish this one I feel I'll be a bit tired of Cold War.

But if I'm not, I have two choices:

• Conventional Cold War: This would be using the NWO mod, but I would probably pick a later date for the scenario. Maybe the 1959 or 1972 ones. So it would be actually closer to periods I find more fascinating about the Cold War.
• 
  
• Nazi-American Cold War: And for this, I would need to use Fatherland mod. I love Thunder in the Sky but I really lack the knowledge of the story behind it so, sometimes I get a bit confused. So, I would use Fatherland but... I would need to work a bit with the general set-up before being capable of using it. I remember you once made a hot fix for it that was really great, you added some cool events, extended the number of years we could play, added music and reworked some tech teams for some countries. But the latest version lacks many things of that hot fix you made, so... I would need to heavily edit the general set-up before starting the AAR. (And I'm not too familiar with all of the event chains possible on it, so, I'd need to do some test runs before trying an AAR on it.

Regarding Australia, that sounds so interesting!
I've seen some of those events and I really like them, Australia is such an interesting country and I'd like to try that one out.
I'm also considering that my next AAR may be with the custom scenario I showed or one with Peace without Victory, specially as one of the Chinese countries you added for next version. ^^ (I'm sure that when I finish this AAR, the next version of PwV will already be uploaded )

Yeah, tech only updates can be a drag to write at times.

Indeed!
Specially at NWO mod, I mean, sometimes a whole year is basically researching technologies and writing about them is... kinda boring at times.
So I'm trying to figure out future events for the game and also, ideas to write that don't actually need gameplay footage. Similar to the last update, it lacked gameplay but it was something interesting and different, way better than seeing how much Korea is getting improved hardware for the army.

Just caught up with this awesome AAR again and really great work as always...Cold War intrigue is always fun to read

Thanks ^^ I haven't been able to post around yours, but I've been checking it and reading. A part of me wished you would play the Confederate States, haha, but I'm enjoying the ride with that one.

And we haven't got to the crazy times that lay ahead, so, stick around.

 

[stevefitz744]

Thanks ^^ I haven't been able to post around yours, but I've been checking it and reading. A part of me wished you would play the Confederate States, haha, but I'm enjoying the ride with that one.

And we haven't got to the crazy times that lay ahead, so, stick around.

Glad to hear it looking forward to that so!

Honestly I only narrowly decided to do the USSA over the Confederates and will definitely be going back to do the CSA at a later time so that should be fun, glad to hear you're enjoying it anyway

 

[Twiggierjet]

In terms of technology, you could do broad updates every 5-10 years or so just to show what kinds of things Korea and the world are getting up to.

 

[RV-Ye]

Hi everyone, I'm currently working on the next update, it will probably be an interlude but, I'm trying to decide...

If it's in the past, 1956, it will be a foreign event or a domestic event.
The other option is 2019 and I'd try to cover how Korea is faring in some aspects, like social issues as currently the country is kinda... Shaken by all the issues surrounding women rights and safety.

Anyways, keep an eye over here.

Glad to hear it looking forward to that so!

Honestly I only narrowly decided to do the USSA over the Confederates and will definitely be going back to do the CSA at a later time so that should be fun, glad to hear you're enjoying it anyway

Poor CSA, I saw you already declared war
And yes, CSA could be enjoyable as you'd have a tough fight against the Red Yanks and the commie mexicans at the south I guess.

I hope you eventually free China from Chiang too.

In terms of technology, you could do broad updates every 5-10 years or so just to show what kinds of things Korea and the world are getting up to.

That would be something good, I'll keep that in mind. I guess I could speak more about technology if it's something important as, a new generation MBT or something like that.

Anyways, we are slowly, but close to reaching the 60's and believe me. I've got many things planned for that decade.

 

[Specialist290]

I admit I'm a little curious to see what's been going on in modern-day Korea since we last looked at it myself, but either way I'll certainly be looking forward to it

 

[stevefitz744]

Hi everyone, I'm currently working on the next update, it will probably be an interlude but, I'm trying to decide...

If it's in the past, 1956, it will be a foreign event or a domestic event.
The other option is 2019 and I'd try to cover how Korea is faring in some aspects, like social issues as currently the country is kinda... Shaken by all the issues surrounding women rights and safety.

Anyways, keep an eye over here.

Why not both? XD

Although it would be good to see how things are going in this alternate 2019

Poor CSA, I saw you already declared war
And yes, CSA could be enjoyable as you'd have a tough fight against the Red Yanks and the commie mexicans at the south I guess.

I hope you eventually free China from Chiang too.

Haha, even poorer CSA now after what I did to them in the latest update XD

Yeah the Confederacy's strategic situation is pretty interesting which is why I'm definitely gonna go back and do an AAR with them at some point

Will have to see if I can get around to dealing with China although seeing as things are pretty tense between them and the Soviets I may not even need to, we'll see

 

[RV-Ye]

Interlude: Pearls and Knives.
​

Taken from a thread found at All K-Pop Forums.

The first Hallyu. - posted by Kim99Chae.

The Kim Sisters, their success in the United States is considered as the first wave of Korean culture.
​

When someone talks about K-Pop, the first thing that comes to their mind are the musical groups that eventually became part of the worldwide Hallyu. But I totally believe it isn't like that, I mean, of course the globalization played a huge role in exporting the Korean culture, however, giving all credits to the technological advancements of the previous century isn't fair at all.

I think that the first Hallyu can actually be traced back to the fifties, to the times of president Cho. I won't go on details about his administration, there are always those that support him and those that believe he was naive in his ideals or policies. But this is not the right place to talk about it so, I'll jump back to the topic at hand.

And I know just what did you think once you saw my thread here;

• Kim99Chae, again with this?

But yes, I have to do it because I feel that sometimes people doesn't give enought credit to those amazing artists of the past that helped to export our culture, improving our standing among the nations in the process. You all know what do I study, I mean, it's clearly on my profile and signature... anyways. As you already know, I consider that cultural aspects along economy are determining factors in the international relations between countries, so... I'll say it straight, Korea's soft power allowed it to develop in such a fascinating way, fostering close relations with countries as the United States and even at later dates with European nations.

Okay, back to the topic, you know how easily I get carried by this kind of stuff.

President Cho's policies along the American economic aid allowed Korea to stand up once again after the chaos and destruction that the war and Rhee left in the country. By the late fifties, the economy had recovered from the poor state it was in after the war but not only that, the average wealth of the population was increasing as well and that along the government public spending allowed Koreans to improve their quality of life.

It's in that environment that the First Hallyu started to consolidate, after all, the KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) received government support as part of the policies designed by president Cho and (yeah, I bet you'll all be surprised at this) minister Ki Seung-min. (De, she was the only woman in president Cho's cabinet)

But that isn't enough to totally explain why I say this, president Cho's views about foreign affairs were rather simple. While he expected Korea to remain neutral and leave the close relation it had with the United States, he also knew that there should be a way to guarantee the country's safety. It's interesting when you think on it, because his solution was something that nowadays we would only call; soft power.

He knew that if Korea had an important presence in the world, it would be easier to guarantee support from other countries if there was an attack by another country. So, even if the government was already running on a tight budget, he chose to hand out subsidies in order to promote the culture. Well, his project partially worked, as many families and businessmen just acted in order to get tax cuts or financial aid.

In the long run, it eventually proved to be a bad decision in an economic sense, however, it also paid off.

Kim Hae-song along Lee Nan-young were the parents of Kim Sook-ja (Sue), Kim Ai-ja (Aija) and the adoptive parents of Kim Min-ja (Mia). They had struggled after the Korean War, they lost their home and Hae-song had barely survived a kidnap attempt against him by North Korean soldiers.

They had been on a bad streak, specially during the chaos that Rhee unleashed all over the country. Frequently rogue soldiers or remnants of the KPA assaulted small villages or small cities with almost no army presence. Therefore, when president Cho became president and the country started to stabilize, they thought things would be better. But the change wasn't as quick as they thought, however, there was a defining moment for the family.

By 1954 (or 1955, I don't remember it exactly) the famous American actress, Marilyn Monroe visited Korea. She came for an army related event, lifting up the morale I assume. Anyways, in his biography, Kim Hae-song said that watching her performance inspired him. Her wife had been an important singer before the war while he was a composer, conductor and singer as well.

Marilyn Monroe, while normally no one would say this, I dare to say that I consider her partially responsible for the birth of "modern" Korean music, of course, it's something debatable but I believe that by inspiring the Kim family, she eventually participated on it.​

So, as his biography says: "...that day was when everything changed. My wife and I had been singing in some places to earn a living, she suggested to me the idea of integrating our daughters as well. But, I couldn't bring myself to do it, they had an opportunity to have better lives and I wanted them to have it. Now, when I think of it, it's funny that they ended up joining anyways. By 1956 we finally got a chance to realize the vision we had, the government subisidies had been taken by people faking their situation or trying to get easy money with no work at all. But we weren't like that, we already had a plan and that, well, that was how Ki-Music started."

Okay okay, we all agree that Ki-Music wasn't the best name at all, but it was the beginning of the First Hallyu. Eventually, by 1957, both parents noticed the talent their daughters had and they eventually chose to nurse that talent. Getting American music wasn't as hard as in the past, but it was still quite expensive, however, thanks to the generous government subsidies the family had been able to improve so much. And soon, both Kim Hae-song and Lee Nan-young left the stage and their daughters, known as The Kim Sisters began to perform.

It is a bit unclear which was the original idea that Kim Hae-song had, after all, Ki-Music basically turned into his "company" to manage their daughters career. And when they eventually moved to the United States it was dissolved and forgotten, however, even if the name was forgotten there was something that would forever remain in the memory of the country.

The Kim Sisters, they not only achieved success in America by 1959, but by 1962 they had already performed at Canada and even the United Kingdom. Of course, most of their songs were in English but in later years they also made releases in Korean which eventually boosted the country's popularity. Anyways, I feel this post is long enough so I'll probably post the second part next week or so.

Until then fellow Netizens!

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Undisclosed location at the North of the Korean Peninsula. ~ -Redacted- 24th, 195X.

"We all know that we have a clear disadvantage in the Hanahoe, most of their members would like to see our country be ruled like a military man. We are all from the armed forces, but we are also intelligent enough to understand that it isn't the way a country has to be ruled. Under this decadent system, the... republic, we fought a bloody war against ourselves, we saw brother against brother. We were thrown against each other by the designs of foreign powers, but no more!" that was Kim Suk-won, one of the members of the triumvirate in the Hanahoe.

"President Cho has shown his true colours, by reducing the amount of money spent on the military how does he expect us to defend against China and the Soviet Union? He constantly speaks about how he wants our country to stay strong but alone, alone! He wants us to be weak, he secretly wants us to be under the communist yoke we freed ourselves years ago. He even allowed that traitor into the government, we aren't safe and we will never be if we stay as a weak democracy. We can't sell our national identity, we can't change it just to appeal to other countries!" he kept speaking to his small audience, most of his supporters were old as well or just too young and naive to idealize a country they hadn't live in.

However, before he could continue with his speech, a messenger entered the room, running with a paper on his hand. In just a few seconds he got the paper, it was a letter, there wasn't a clear sign of who had send it but he already had an idea. After all, he had been talking to him since the Traitor joined the government.

He slowly opened the letter and began to read.

"...therefore, we have to act before our country is in serious danger. Of course we can't rush this, but preparations shall begin now before it is too late. The Korean people will recognize their rightful leader in this dire times, I appreciate your collaboration on this, when the communist conspiracy has been defeated the House of Yi shall deliver their promises to their most loyal subjects."

Under vice president Nixon's advice, the CIA had been funding the Hanahoe, however, as one of its leading members, Kim Suk-won had been able to siphon away part of the resources of the organization. Creating another one within it, it was slow, but he was sure about his plans for the country, that was the only way to keep it safe from the communists and from foreigners, Korea wasn't going to repeat the tragic experience it lived for decades; not under communists, not under foreigners, Korea would be free.

The general population wasn't aware of it, but Korea wasn't only a land of pearls, it was slowly turning into a land of knives and they would eventually be drawn out into fight.

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Okay, here's the interlude I talked about earlier this week.
I didn't talk too much about TTL Korea in 2019, but I'll eventually do it as I research a bit more too.
I have to say that, while I have an AKP account, that "post" is totally invented by me. I hope you like it and I'd like to read some feedback about this, I felt that switching from a Book narration to an Internet Post would be interesting to do as well!

And, well, I hope you enjoy it, I'll be working out the next update. (I already have an idea about it)
Also, if someone has some speculation and crazy theories, you can totally post them I'd enjoy reading some of them.

Spoiler: Future Teaser

I'll give a tiny hint for you to try to guess, but, eventually in the future... some sisters will also be involved in this AAR. And nope, it's not in a music way, it's about politics.

 

[stnylan]

Settings things up for a period of bloody internal discord.

 

[Specialist290]

Hmm... A monarchist coup is in the works? That's certainly going to make things interesting if they actually get anywhere with it, even if it ultimately fails.

Definitely enjoying the opportunity to take a peek at how culture and society is evolving "under the hood" -- I'm always a fan of authors who try to tease out what effects the grand events and decisions on the political stage have on the everyday life of the proverbial man on the street. It also led me to look up the real-life Kim Sisters, and any day I'm learning something new is never a day wasted.

Finally, that bit at the end: Does that mean we'll be seeing Im Sun-ja make another appearance any time soon?

 

[RV-Ye]

Chapter VII: Foreign and Domestic developments. (Part II)
"The purpose of the United Nations should be to protect the essential sovereignty of nations, large and small." - Nikita Khrushchev, former leader of the Soviet Union.
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Gyeongmudae, Seoul, Republic of Korea. ~ June 9th, 1956.

"President Cho, we have been capable of getting technical details about the German V-2 rocket, the one they used extensively in the last years of the war in Europe. But that's not the only news, we have also faced success in developing a similar prototype, we have called it the Hwanseong-1. We believe that we'll have a better design by mid-1958, as right now most of the resources are being spent on supply issues or upgrading our army's equipment," That was the minister of National Defence, while he didn't agreed at all with president Cho's budget plans, he was at least grateful that the armed forces weren't left behind.

While president Cho firmly believed in a neutral Korea, he also knew that only by having enough strength of their own they would be capable of enforcing their stance upon both superpowers. Developing the army was as important as improving the civilian economy, after all, Korea was receiving a good amount of money through her arms trade with Thailand. After the Vietnamese conquest of Laos and Cambodia, Thailand had started to worry about her security and the country started to receive huge support by the United States. But that wasn't all, Thailand and Korea had a special relationship, after all, Thailand had been one of the countries that participated on the Korean War.

"President, we must take a different approach towards the economy, all of this public spending and focus on some expensive technologies are depleting our available currency. At this rate we consider that we'll have to ask for a loan by the end of the year, after all, printing more currency would only cause inflation and that would severely affect the country's situation. We also need to take into consideration that most of the public subsidies aren't being used in the proper way they should be, if we continue on this path we'll have to secure further loans or aid from the Americans," He was Yi Tong-whi, the minister of finance, he was certain that the Korean economy was not only overheating, but that it was reaching a breaking point with all of the social programs and subsidies that president Cho had decided to enact.

The Ministry of National Defence was decided on improving the military capabilities, they also wanted to finally expand the ROK's navy, however, all of the subsidies and policies of president Cho were straining the national budget and the focus on developing something as expensive as computers was also creating issues for it.
​

"I understand your worries, minister Yi, however we must also remember that through subsidies and our support towards the population we're capable of getting them away from radical ideologies. It's our duty to rule over a free Korea and to guarantee the wellbeing of our citizens, I'm sure that our situation will improve without having to ask more support from the Americans," President Cho still insisted on staying true to his policies and also on not depending totally on the United States.

Everyone on the cabinet shifted uneasily, after all, while they supported the way president Cho had conducted the nation after the mess that Rhee caused, they couldn't totally agree on his policies or goals he had in mind. There's no question that they all wanted a free and prosperous country, but they also understood the danger the economy was facing if those same policies stayed the same and even more if he really expected the country to be strong enough without American aid.

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Nasser against imperialism. - Kateryna Ivanenko.

On June 11th, 1956, Nasser gave a speech at Alexandria. While he did so, he mentioned Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the canal and that was the code-word for the Egyptian forces to seize the canal and carry on with the nationalization.
​

Before the nationalization of the Suez Canal, there had been a huge amount of tension between Egypt and the United Kingdom, specially as Nasser felt that the United Kingdom was supporting Iraq as a possible leader for the Arab World, a position he wanted for Egypt. But that wasn't the only country that had issues with him, after all, France and Israel were also opposed to Nasser.

Things were different with the United States, after all, the Americans thought that Nasser could be an American ally against the Soviet Union while Nasser himself thought that the Americans could be useful partners in order to stop Britain and reduce her influence at the Middle East. It was a win-win situation, however, when the Americans proved to be reluctant about an arms deal with Egypt, Nasser eventually saw the Soviet Bloc as a viable way to deal with Britain, France and of course; Israel.

The Soviet Union at the time was led by the Troika consisting of Malenkov, Bulganin and Voroshilov. While each one had different positions about the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, they basically agreed that Egypt could be an important ally in the region. Malenkov was the most vocal regarding that perspective, as Voroshilov and Bulganin were still debating about which course of action to take in Poland where the citizens unrest was threatening the country's stability and therefore, the Soviet Union's security and that of her client states in Eastern Europe.

The idea of having Nasser as an ally got more strength after the United States refused to sell weapons to Egypt but that wasn't the main point, they also weren't willing to spend on building the High Aswan dam, a project that Nasser envisioned and that eventually got Soviet support. The relation between both countries was quickly improving and it eventually proved to be a wise decision by Nasser as on June 30th, the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 into the space, becoming the first country to get an artificial satellite into the orbit. While it had nothing to do with the Middle East politics or dynamics, it proved to be a huge boon for Nasser as now Egypt was seen as the ally of the strongest country.

The whole world was shocked after the Soviet Union became the first country to launch an artificial satellite into orbit, almost everyone expected that the United States would be the first country to do so, with the Sputnik 1 the Soviet Union became the first place on the Space Race.
​

There were several points of contention between Egypt and the United Kingdom but after the nationalization of the Suez Canal a new issue came up. Britain didn't fulfill her agreement of 1953 with Egypt, the British rule over Sudan was supposed to be terminated by 1956, but the tensions between both countries eventually pushed that out. Creating another point of conflict between the two nations, one that would continue to complicate as Egypt renewed the claims of suzerainty towards Sudan.

In the United Kingdom as well as in France, the conservative elements of society and government were calling to stand up against Nasser's actions. It's interesting to add that in France he was being compared with Mussolini while in Britain he was seen as another Hitler, all of this just because he wanted a free Egypt from the chains of both imperialist countries. The situation continued to deteriorate between them, however, France and Britain started to make plans to correct the situation and get rid of Nasser as they both had interests opposed to Nasser's policy. France wanted Egypt out of Algeria while Britain wished to keep her influence intact in the Arab World and also keep the Suez Canal.

The American president, Dwight Eisenhower, wasn't supportive of the measures Britain and France wanted to take on against Egypt, while he agreed that Nasser couldn't be allowed as a Soviet ally, he also thought that a stronger stance against both countries would eventually sway back Egypt towards their friendship with America. After the Sputnik 1 was launched, the United States started to worry that Egypt couldn't be regained, but president Eisenhower was adamant on his position to oppose the Franco-British designs upon Egypt.

The Americans refused to get involved in actions that were clear signs of imperialism and colonialism, however, that wasn't the only reason behind president Eisenhower's opposition to his allies stance. The Soviet Troika proved their willingness to escalate a conflict in order to support their allies, as was seen in Indochina. So, now that Egypt was drifting towards the Soviet Bloc, there was a real chance that an aggression against Nasser could spark a wider conflict. That was the main reason behind America's opposition to France and the United Kingdom regarding the Suez issue, eventually, that would affect negatively their relations with both countries; specially France as the events of 1958 proved.

After the United Kingdom annulled the agreement with Egypt, the tensions started to grow even more, they eventually culminated with the nationalization of the Suez Canal. And soon, cries for war started to grow at London.
​

Everyone knew that Britain and France would try something in order to recover their prestige, the Suez Canal and give Nasser a lesson, maybe even oust him from power. But the stakes were quite high and it seemed that only president Eisenhower was capable of noticing that. However, there weren't the only countries willing to invade Egypt, after all, there was one more that perceived Egypt as an existential threat: Israel.

After the Suez Canal was nationalized, Egypt quickly moved to ban Israeli shipping and then they closed the Straits of Tiran, threatening the Israeli economy by doing so. Those actions were seen as acts of war and also violations to the 1949 Agreement, it was evident that Israel wasn't going to allow that to go unpunished. But there was a problem in that, Britain didn't want to cooperate with Israel as that would threaten her influence in the region, while France had no issues with allying to Israel.

It all changed after the Sputnik 1 was launched, it really affected the vision many politicians had about the Soviet Union. Israeli PM, David Ben-Gurion, was worried about Soviet reprisals if Israel got involved against Egypt, Moshe Dayan (the IDF chief of staff) advised the prime minister to carry on with the attack, insisting that the Egyptian actions were undermining Israel's security. However, Ben-Gurion insisted on his opposition to join the plots against Nasser by now.

Soon enough, Britain and France were alone, scheming a viable way to invade Egypt, oust Nasser and recover the Suez Canal. But the situation would soon change on October, the French general Maurice Challe had been sent towards London to finish up the last details for the invasion and to coordinate the date both countries would move against Egypt. However, two days after the meeting, pictures of the event, documents, maps and even the plans of invasion were leaked to the British press; the Opposition Leader, Hugh Gaitskell quickly criticized the government's plan to start a war that clearly violated the Charter of the United Nations.

The political fallout was massive as the Soviet Union quickly denounced those actions both in the Security Council and in the General Assembly were several countries condemned the Franco-British plans to invade Egypt. Anthony Eden got heavily criticized as well as the French premier, Guy Mollet, soon both countries experienced political unrest against their leaders. The situation in France was even worse, after the Vietnamese victory back in 1950, the lack of progress in Algeria and now the loss of face against Nasser, the most conservative elements of French society were getting restless.

The Suez Crisis proved to be a blessing to Egypt in later events while the Soviet Union also benefited from it, their stance among the nations was improved and they were widely seen as defenders of the oppressed nations. It also helped the Soviet Union as most of the world was focused on the Middle East developments while the Troika dealt with Poland and Hungary, two countries that were starting to cause troubles to Moscow.

It's interesting to note that after the Suez Crisis ended, Nasser quietly unblocked the Straits of Tiran and lifted (partially) the ban on Israeli shipping. While there's not strong information about it, some historians speculate that he chose to do so in order to discredit IDF chief of staff Moshe Dayan, by showing that Egypt could be willing to negotiate, others consider that the Troika asked for it and the last opinion is that he wanted to keep at least some of Washington's goodwill.

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Presidential Palace, Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Indochina. ~ September 29th, 1956.

"There's still heavy resistance against us in northern Laos and on western Cambodia, this indicates that at least the Laotian guerrillas are receiving support from China. We can't find another explanation to this, those revisionists at Beijing are working against us, trying to undermine the achievements of the Indochinese proletariat. While the most plausible explanation regarding Cambodia is that Thailand is involving herself against us," Said general Võ Nguyên Giáp, he was the most important general in the Indochinese Army, an ironic name as most of the forces were Vietnamese.

"Then we were right to suspect about China's intentions, maybe they wanted us to overextend ourselves so they could get someone else in power, someone more likeable to Beijing. Well then, we can handle the situation at Laos but Thailand is stepping into dangerous grounds, we should prepare to strike them, otherwise, they'll continue to get involved on our affairs and that's not an option," That was another general.

Ho Chi Minh sat silent, nodding his head in agreement, no one knew it, but he was ill, each day he felt even worse. There was only one explanation, Mao, he was sure that China had to be doing something, maybe there was a Chinese agent on Hanoi, getting the ground ready for a Chinese offensive.
"Perhaps I'm just making up false ideas on my mind," He thought, considering that maybe the headache made him think strange things.

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Well, here it is.
We now see how is the Soviet Union doing along Britain and France, we've got one of the most exciting crises of the Cold War turning out to be... well, not so messy or chaotic, but still being relevant enough to cause aftershocks in some countries.

We're also setting the game for the next conflict we'll see.

Next update will probably deal up with Poland, Hungary and maybe a bit more about our favourite Cold War bloc, the Soviet one!

Enjoy!

 

[Specialist290]

The Suez Crisis ends in a fizzle, and with France and the UK getting egg on their faces -- though, given the historical outcome, it's likely that they would have found themselves in that position no matter what they did. Israel and Egypt come out their real winners here, and while they may never grow to truly trust one another the fact that the Suez Canal remains open surely relieves one possible sore spot.

Meanwhile, it looks like Indochina is about to turn hot again...

 

[stnylan]

An Israeli-Egyptian secret alliance is potentially a very dangerous thing for the rest of the Middle East I am thinking.

 

[RV-Ye]

I already have the idea for the next update (at least on my mind), I only have to write it down now.
However, I'm taking some time as I'm also researching a pair of things before lighting up the AAR once again, we are close to starting with the real chaos over here so I want to get the right ideas, the right events and some balance between the AI countries. (Though I'll probably control at times the AI) I'll also work on an interlude detailing a bit about the Soviet Intervention Force that was deployed to Vietnam, as we already know, the Soviet Union didn't have the global reach that United States had to deploy forces through several places.

So, I'll try to focus a bit on that in order to make it a bit more realistic as well.
And also, while my main focus is having some realism over here (in order to avoid an ultra Korea-wank) I'll always have the story prevail over it, if I think on something that may be quite unrealistic, I'll try to tone it down and implement it as my main purpose for writing this AAR is giving you something interesting and enjoyable to read.

Oh! And I'm planning to start using again more real life pictures, sometimes there are events where I don't really have good pictures to narrate so, yeah...
But don't worry, , we'll have pictures and not only game screenshots.

The Suez Crisis ends in a fizzle, and with France and the UK getting egg on their faces -- though, given the historical outcome, it's likely that they would have found themselves in that position no matter what they did. Israel and Egypt come out their real winners here, and while they may never grow to truly trust one another the fact that the Suez Canal remains open surely relieves one possible sore spot.

Meanwhile, it looks like Indochina is about to turn hot again...

Indeed!
France and Britain didn't get lucky ITL either and you are right about Israel and Egypt, they came out of the crisis without a costly war, while they won't certainly be close friends or allies, they at least have better relations, it may be due to the feat about the apparent Egyptian-Soviet relation or the possibility of being a stronger Soviet Union, it isn't clear right now, but at least the peace seems to prevail between them.. but, will it last?

Oh yeah, with China getting itchy about a pro-Soviet Indochina, with Ho Chi Minh getting sick, certain Vietnamese generals being restless about Thailand and Washington dusting off the plans for Operation Wasp... Oh yeah, Indochina is close to getting exciting once again!

An Israeli-Egyptian secret alliance is potentially a very dangerous thing for the rest of the Middle East I am thinking.

Oh don't worry, we aren't getting an alliance of both countries, that would totally disrupt the universe.
Right now Egypt only chose to stand down a bit on their stance due to a stronger hand they have to play right now: an apparent stronger Soviet Union (the Sputnik 1 basically proves that this reckless Soviet Union can strike wherever they want), Egypt also knows that this makes them look as a full ally of the Soviets and Nasser wasn't the kind of man to place all of the eggs on one basket so, yeah, he wants to keep some of Washington's goodwill.

 

[RV-Ye]

Spoiler: Spoiler for a possible future idea

Just wanted to show off one idea I'm getting for a possible AAR, still focused on finishing this one and also on working for the American resistance one in 2015.
But I got bored and started playing off scenarios in my mind about the 1936 US election in Kaiserreich.


What do you think?