Echoes from the Chorus:
Sorry for the long break before the finale. School has left me wanting for more free time, but I am glad to be able to present the grand finale of our tale.
My bad, sorry I missed the reference. Canada had its own issues with involvement missions in the region around that time, so I probably should have smelt what you were cooking there. As for Seneca, I'm sure he would. Unfortunately Rome is not the Empire it once was, and Mussolini's hubris has led him to being surrounded on all sides with his army scattered and friends few and far between. Germanic invasions may again descend on the eternal city and break the back of its nation.
And with that out of the way, I now give you:
Perfidious Germania
Hitler's favourite general prepares for a nice dish of pasta. General Rommel faced little resistance from an Italian Army which was woefully out of position.
When we last left our mustachioed protagonist, Mussolini had become the last man in Europe to realize that a treaty with Adolf Hitler's name on it wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Germany, once Italy's salvation, massed troops in occupied Venetia. Italian diplomatic efforts to stop Germany's relentless advance were ignored as Germany made it clear that they could not allow for Italy to fall into Allied hands. The third major invasion of Italy in as many years had begun.
Stranded Forces
Meanwhile, Italian troops being redeployed by rail from the Ukraine to the Home Front suddenly found their rail lines cut. Thankfully for them, these units were experienced and still well-supplied and equipped. Even better, Italian forces had managed to reach fairly friendly territory and Germany's armies were occupied in conflicts far away. Romanian partisans were able to inform confused Italian commanders of the situation. Orders from home commanded all Italian units still available to establish supply lines to Bulgaria, Greece, or Albania. From here they were to advance to liberate fallen territories in the region and hopefully tie down (or at least distract) as many enemy troops as possible. So commenced the liberation of the areas of the New Roman Empire which had been "temporarily" occupied by Germany during the conflict with the Soviets.
Italian forces loosed on the Balkans. Future military historians would point out that, while Germany's generals had made plans for how to handle Italian forces in transit, the Führer's increasingly erratic and impulsive behaviour towards his former ally prevented any such measures from being successfully prepared.
Refuge in Bulgaria: Or How Romania was finally freed
Operating out of Bulgaria, Italian forces were able to fan out over the largely undefended countryside. Strong progress was made advancing towards both occupied Romania and Macedonia in the former Yugoslavia. Italy declared that Romania had at long last been freed, but Romania as a nation had long since ceased to exist. There was simply no organized government to install King Carol in to lead, and the Romanian resistance had understandably mixed feelings about such a figure. Nonetheless, future Italian historians would argue that Italy repaid its debts to its Balkan allies and had indeed ultimately fulfilled its promise to free Romania, if only briefly. In a time of darkness and desperation, such small successes had more symbolic than effective value. (player note, this screenshot really doesn't give justice to how much I was actually able to take in the Balkans and Syria. Unfortunately, I do not have a screenshot or save showing the full extent of my advances, which included all of Syria and a significant portion of Romania having been taken).
Holding Tight in Africa
Italian forces in Africa meanwhile found themselves even more isolated than previously. They could do little but dig in. Post-war interviews of Italian veterans of the Egypt and Levant Campaign revealed that many believed reports of Germany betraying Italy (captured from enemy forces, as communication with the homeland had long since been lost) were merely fake reports planted by the Allies to demoralize enemy forces. Grizzled veterans that they were, the Italian Expeditionary Force refused to surrender, and even made advances into the French colony of Syria, which had declared its allegiance to the Gaulist "Free French" regime, having abandoned loyalty to the German puppet government in Vichy.
The Beginning of the End
Italy simply did not have the forces to hold back the Germans and Americans, especially with Yankee forces so close to Rome. Any Italian troops diverted to slow the German advance only allowed the American advance to regain steam and momentum. Wehrmacht forces swept forward down the Italian peninsula encountering only limited resistance. America finally advanced on Rome. Italian patriots who had rallied to the cause of the country when it was invaded by Russians found themselves occupied by a new foreign invader almost overnight.
The End of the End
“You may have the universe if I may have Italy.” (Giuseppe Verdi)
Italy simply could not hold out any longer. The government was in disarray. Prominent government officials and even cabinet ministers began fleeing the capital. Some would even manage to find their way to Spain or Portugal (which had not joined in Germany's mad crusade against one of its staunchest allies) aboard submarines or aircraft. Following the war, Francisco Franco would publically disavow his ties to former fascist nations to ingratiate himself to the victors, but, being secretly grateful for Italian help in his victory, his regime would shield or aid many prominent Italian expatriates. Some were hidden in monasteries, while others were given new Spanish identities and papers with which they could escape to South America, where they could settle among the significant Italian immigrant communities.
Mussolini himself would be captured by the Americans following a close-run battle. This occurred only after only after an elite German paratrooper unit, led by Major Otto-Harald Mors, failed in a daring raid to attempt to capture the Italian leader at his official residence. Only through the cooperation and heroism of Mussolini's personal guards and the intervention of the American vanguard, which was advancing into Rome, were the Germans beaten off. Mussolini then ordered his remaining forces to stand down and surrender their weapons to American custody.
Mussolini hoped to sign a separate peace with the Allies, ideally with the help of British mediation. From here, Italy and the New Roman Empire could join forces with their erstwhile democratic foes and take revenge on the backstabbing Hun. Unfortunately, America had little use left for Italy now besides as a battlefield, and such offers were not entertained. Mussolini desired revenge against the German, who he argued had lived in wood huts while his own ancestors had lived in the greatest city and empire in the world. Mussolini's desires wuold instead be confined to his villa, as he was instead held in American custody under house arrest. He hoped that, at the very least, if he renounced politics and encouraged cooperation with the Americans, he might be allowed to settle in a villa by the sea, and live out the rest of his days growing old with his family.
The End of the End
Diplomats from the victorious Allied powers gathered to plan the post-war division of Italy. In Berlin, German leaders planned their own designs on the peninsula
Italy lay broken and defeated. Itself and its Balkan allies were forced to formally and unconditionally surrender and lay themselves at the mercy of their enemies. None of Italy's adversaries seemed interested in preserving a friendly Italian government. Instead the focus of peace was in partitioning the corpse of its empire.
Of course, many claims made were largely unenforceable due to the country being divided between two warring powers. Nonetheless, ambitious moves were made to secure post-war positions, including the Soviet Union demanding it receive naval bases in Southern Italy (Soviets used their points to snag a few territories for themselves, but were not content to merely take land in the Balkans. Negotiations in Rome resulted in pro-Allied governments being established in Greece and Bulgaria (at British insistence), although significant portions of their countries would remain under direct military occupation. Italian colonies in Africa were to remain under the control of the increasingly imperialistic Americans. Italy itself, with its great spirit of resistance, was to be kept under direct military occupation for at least the remainder of the campaign there.
The world waited with baited breath for the coming clash of titans in Italy. Would the United States be able to push back the fascist menace or would Germany humble the so-far undefeated American Army by driving them back to the sea? Could the Soviets hold on long enough against the German menace now that there was finally a second front in Europe again, or was it too late for them and their besieged capital? At least this is what would have happened. However, in the final days of the peace conference, the issue arose of what would be the ultimate fate of Hungary (largely irrelevant since it was occupied by Germany regardless).
As the peace conference was drawing to a close, the issue of what to do with Hungary remained. This "Hungary Question" was to have drastic consequences for the supposedly victorious powers
The End of the End: Hungary saves the New Roman Empire: Or how to abuse temporal peace paradoxes for revenge and profit
As it so happened, Negotiations had left open the status of Hungary. Most observers predicted the Soviet Union would be allowed to either annex the Carpathian country or install a friendly puppet regime. However, Miklos Horthy, hero of the Great Hungarian Escape, had other thoughts. As the leaders of the defeated New Roman Empire were gathered to symbolically sign the treaty to be dictated to them, the Sundial of Attila, stung around Horthy's ceremonial regalia, began to glow. And then the world stopped. There would be no treaty finishing the New Roman Empire, for history was at an end. Hungary had truly had the last trump card after all and had saved Italy once more. Shortly after, the world collapsed into oblivion.
Player Note/Explanation: The treaty to divide up Italy was going fine, but, near its conclusion, with everything doled out but Hungary on a Soviet turn, the Soviet player stopped responding. As such, the treaty could never finish. Not too long after, the host disconnected, ending the game.
Post-Mortem Musings: The tragedy of Italy
Of course, for Italy, the war was over. Italy was not puppeted (although could have been released). I would have loved to have had the Allies puppet me and played on the get revenge on the backstabbing Germans, but America didn't seem to be in forgiving mood (unfortunately text box isn't openable during peace negotiations). Italy had fallen, and the light of the New Roman Empire extinguished like that of the old.
Had the game continued, I would have become an observer, like Romania, and could perhaps have rejoined if the Allies then released Italy.
It is honestly hard to say who would have prevailed. The American Army was superior to the German one in quality, but was very limited numerically. The question of who would have won had the game continued is honestly an open one and would likely have come down to how much longer the Soviet Union could hold out. If they had done everything to increase their unity, Germany's situation was grim indeed.
Elsewhere in the world, Japan had made limited and slow progress, but still progress, pushing into Burma. Portugal had lost some forces, but continued to have fun wreaking havoc in southern Africa while their own coastline was guarded by numerous (though fairly weak) infantry units. (Portugal was apparently still being ignored by any human player).
Japan had made some progress, but its Asian empire ultimately proved fairly irrelevant to the ultimate outcome of the war (although victory points taken in Siberia could have helped force Soviet surrender had the war gone on)
Portugal might not have attained much relevance overall, but did seem to be having a genuinely fun time campaigning in Africa
Perhaps things could have been different if I had engaged more with Germany (especially pointing out how much of a help I was being to him). On the other hand, a player who would destroy his only ally in the region, whose holding out secured him time to win the ultimate victory, shows that this might have been a lost cause to begin with.
As for other possible courses of action I could have taken to change the outcome of this game, I did seriously consider an early war with Yugoslavia, delayed because of fears of Soviet retaliation if the red army was already in Yugoslavia. In hindsight, there were no such Red Army units deployed there, and Yugoslavia was fully committed to pushing into Greece and was very vulnerable. Of course, world tension would have been increased, but aggressive Soviet actions were doing this regardless. Had I acted sooner, I might have been able to save Romania. (as an aside, I do not like the addition of needing ideology support to guarantee. There is little reason why Italy could not have guaranteed Greece in a scenario like this).
I could also have kept my troops in Italy rather than send them to the Ukraine. It is difficult to say if this would have been able to hold back the American tide (and subsequent German invasion) however. Once Germany attacked, things were essentially over regardless.
Regardless, this game was a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. It was one of my favourite mp games and had a lot of back and forth and heroic struggle.
As for our pasta loving protagonist, too late did Mussolini learn that not all friends should be trusted, although he did perhaps earned a much different place in the history books of his nation than in our time line (likely a controversial one, but still much better than he got in our timeline; perhaps something akin to Metaxas of Greece).
I did later go into the save file to complete the peace deal, so I can give everyone a view of roughly what the map would have looked like had the game continued.
Some of this territory would no doubt quickly change hands had the war continued. And yes, Soviet Russia did demand land for the blood of her children ("bases" as I euphemised) (and areas the Red Army had never actually conquered too)
Germany had yet to take the major Russian cities/victory points of Moscow, Leningrad, or Stalingrad. However, the Red Army appeared to be stretched precariously thin. Who would be the ultimate victor here is still up for debate. As is the effect of German forces being peeled from the Easter Front to deploy to Italy
A broader view, including new American colonies in Africa
And finally, the war was at last confined to its historic factions once more
Too anyone who has got all the way here, thank-you so much for reading! I truly appreciate you taking the time to read my AAR. Please share any comments, questions, or critiques you might have.
And with that,
All's well that ends well.
Sorry for the long break before the finale. School has left me wanting for more free time, but I am glad to be able to present the grand finale of our tale.
I was referring to our old humanitarian missions in the Horn during the late 80s and early 90s that culminated in "Black Hawk Down" along with the continued presence of shipping issues in the region.
I'm sure Seneca, if he were resurrected, would write a splendid tragedy about the storm that is coming back to his native shores.
My bad, sorry I missed the reference. Canada had its own issues with involvement missions in the region around that time, so I probably should have smelt what you were cooking there. As for Seneca, I'm sure he would. Unfortunately Rome is not the Empire it once was, and Mussolini's hubris has led him to being surrounded on all sides with his army scattered and friends few and far between. Germanic invasions may again descend on the eternal city and break the back of its nation.
And with that out of the way, I now give you:
Part X: The Tragedy of Italy
"Shoot me in the chest!” – Last words of Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini
Perfidious Germania
Hitler's favourite general prepares for a nice dish of pasta. General Rommel faced little resistance from an Italian Army which was woefully out of position.
When we last left our mustachioed protagonist, Mussolini had become the last man in Europe to realize that a treaty with Adolf Hitler's name on it wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Germany, once Italy's salvation, massed troops in occupied Venetia. Italian diplomatic efforts to stop Germany's relentless advance were ignored as Germany made it clear that they could not allow for Italy to fall into Allied hands. The third major invasion of Italy in as many years had begun.
Stranded Forces
Meanwhile, Italian troops being redeployed by rail from the Ukraine to the Home Front suddenly found their rail lines cut. Thankfully for them, these units were experienced and still well-supplied and equipped. Even better, Italian forces had managed to reach fairly friendly territory and Germany's armies were occupied in conflicts far away. Romanian partisans were able to inform confused Italian commanders of the situation. Orders from home commanded all Italian units still available to establish supply lines to Bulgaria, Greece, or Albania. From here they were to advance to liberate fallen territories in the region and hopefully tie down (or at least distract) as many enemy troops as possible. So commenced the liberation of the areas of the New Roman Empire which had been "temporarily" occupied by Germany during the conflict with the Soviets.
Italian forces loosed on the Balkans. Future military historians would point out that, while Germany's generals had made plans for how to handle Italian forces in transit, the Führer's increasingly erratic and impulsive behaviour towards his former ally prevented any such measures from being successfully prepared.
Refuge in Bulgaria: Or How Romania was finally freed
Operating out of Bulgaria, Italian forces were able to fan out over the largely undefended countryside. Strong progress was made advancing towards both occupied Romania and Macedonia in the former Yugoslavia. Italy declared that Romania had at long last been freed, but Romania as a nation had long since ceased to exist. There was simply no organized government to install King Carol in to lead, and the Romanian resistance had understandably mixed feelings about such a figure. Nonetheless, future Italian historians would argue that Italy repaid its debts to its Balkan allies and had indeed ultimately fulfilled its promise to free Romania, if only briefly. In a time of darkness and desperation, such small successes had more symbolic than effective value. (player note, this screenshot really doesn't give justice to how much I was actually able to take in the Balkans and Syria. Unfortunately, I do not have a screenshot or save showing the full extent of my advances, which included all of Syria and a significant portion of Romania having been taken).
Holding Tight in Africa
Italian forces in Africa meanwhile found themselves even more isolated than previously. They could do little but dig in. Post-war interviews of Italian veterans of the Egypt and Levant Campaign revealed that many believed reports of Germany betraying Italy (captured from enemy forces, as communication with the homeland had long since been lost) were merely fake reports planted by the Allies to demoralize enemy forces. Grizzled veterans that they were, the Italian Expeditionary Force refused to surrender, and even made advances into the French colony of Syria, which had declared its allegiance to the Gaulist "Free French" regime, having abandoned loyalty to the German puppet government in Vichy.
The Beginning of the End
Italy simply did not have the forces to hold back the Germans and Americans, especially with Yankee forces so close to Rome. Any Italian troops diverted to slow the German advance only allowed the American advance to regain steam and momentum. Wehrmacht forces swept forward down the Italian peninsula encountering only limited resistance. America finally advanced on Rome. Italian patriots who had rallied to the cause of the country when it was invaded by Russians found themselves occupied by a new foreign invader almost overnight.
The End of the End
“You may have the universe if I may have Italy.” (Giuseppe Verdi)
Italy simply could not hold out any longer. The government was in disarray. Prominent government officials and even cabinet ministers began fleeing the capital. Some would even manage to find their way to Spain or Portugal (which had not joined in Germany's mad crusade against one of its staunchest allies) aboard submarines or aircraft. Following the war, Francisco Franco would publically disavow his ties to former fascist nations to ingratiate himself to the victors, but, being secretly grateful for Italian help in his victory, his regime would shield or aid many prominent Italian expatriates. Some were hidden in monasteries, while others were given new Spanish identities and papers with which they could escape to South America, where they could settle among the significant Italian immigrant communities.
Mussolini himself would be captured by the Americans following a close-run battle. This occurred only after only after an elite German paratrooper unit, led by Major Otto-Harald Mors, failed in a daring raid to attempt to capture the Italian leader at his official residence. Only through the cooperation and heroism of Mussolini's personal guards and the intervention of the American vanguard, which was advancing into Rome, were the Germans beaten off. Mussolini then ordered his remaining forces to stand down and surrender their weapons to American custody.
Mussolini hoped to sign a separate peace with the Allies, ideally with the help of British mediation. From here, Italy and the New Roman Empire could join forces with their erstwhile democratic foes and take revenge on the backstabbing Hun. Unfortunately, America had little use left for Italy now besides as a battlefield, and such offers were not entertained. Mussolini desired revenge against the German, who he argued had lived in wood huts while his own ancestors had lived in the greatest city and empire in the world. Mussolini's desires wuold instead be confined to his villa, as he was instead held in American custody under house arrest. He hoped that, at the very least, if he renounced politics and encouraged cooperation with the Americans, he might be allowed to settle in a villa by the sea, and live out the rest of his days growing old with his family.
The End of the End
Diplomats from the victorious Allied powers gathered to plan the post-war division of Italy. In Berlin, German leaders planned their own designs on the peninsula
Italy lay broken and defeated. Itself and its Balkan allies were forced to formally and unconditionally surrender and lay themselves at the mercy of their enemies. None of Italy's adversaries seemed interested in preserving a friendly Italian government. Instead the focus of peace was in partitioning the corpse of its empire.
Of course, many claims made were largely unenforceable due to the country being divided between two warring powers. Nonetheless, ambitious moves were made to secure post-war positions, including the Soviet Union demanding it receive naval bases in Southern Italy (Soviets used their points to snag a few territories for themselves, but were not content to merely take land in the Balkans. Negotiations in Rome resulted in pro-Allied governments being established in Greece and Bulgaria (at British insistence), although significant portions of their countries would remain under direct military occupation. Italian colonies in Africa were to remain under the control of the increasingly imperialistic Americans. Italy itself, with its great spirit of resistance, was to be kept under direct military occupation for at least the remainder of the campaign there.
The world waited with baited breath for the coming clash of titans in Italy. Would the United States be able to push back the fascist menace or would Germany humble the so-far undefeated American Army by driving them back to the sea? Could the Soviets hold on long enough against the German menace now that there was finally a second front in Europe again, or was it too late for them and their besieged capital? At least this is what would have happened. However, in the final days of the peace conference, the issue arose of what would be the ultimate fate of Hungary (largely irrelevant since it was occupied by Germany regardless).
As the peace conference was drawing to a close, the issue of what to do with Hungary remained. This "Hungary Question" was to have drastic consequences for the supposedly victorious powers
The End of the End: Hungary saves the New Roman Empire: Or how to abuse temporal peace paradoxes for revenge and profit
As it so happened, Negotiations had left open the status of Hungary. Most observers predicted the Soviet Union would be allowed to either annex the Carpathian country or install a friendly puppet regime. However, Miklos Horthy, hero of the Great Hungarian Escape, had other thoughts. As the leaders of the defeated New Roman Empire were gathered to symbolically sign the treaty to be dictated to them, the Sundial of Attila, stung around Horthy's ceremonial regalia, began to glow. And then the world stopped. There would be no treaty finishing the New Roman Empire, for history was at an end. Hungary had truly had the last trump card after all and had saved Italy once more. Shortly after, the world collapsed into oblivion.
Player Note/Explanation: The treaty to divide up Italy was going fine, but, near its conclusion, with everything doled out but Hungary on a Soviet turn, the Soviet player stopped responding. As such, the treaty could never finish. Not too long after, the host disconnected, ending the game.
Post-Mortem Musings: The tragedy of Italy
Of course, for Italy, the war was over. Italy was not puppeted (although could have been released). I would have loved to have had the Allies puppet me and played on the get revenge on the backstabbing Germans, but America didn't seem to be in forgiving mood (unfortunately text box isn't openable during peace negotiations). Italy had fallen, and the light of the New Roman Empire extinguished like that of the old.
Had the game continued, I would have become an observer, like Romania, and could perhaps have rejoined if the Allies then released Italy.
It is honestly hard to say who would have prevailed. The American Army was superior to the German one in quality, but was very limited numerically. The question of who would have won had the game continued is honestly an open one and would likely have come down to how much longer the Soviet Union could hold out. If they had done everything to increase their unity, Germany's situation was grim indeed.
Elsewhere in the world, Japan had made limited and slow progress, but still progress, pushing into Burma. Portugal had lost some forces, but continued to have fun wreaking havoc in southern Africa while their own coastline was guarded by numerous (though fairly weak) infantry units. (Portugal was apparently still being ignored by any human player).
Japan had made some progress, but its Asian empire ultimately proved fairly irrelevant to the ultimate outcome of the war (although victory points taken in Siberia could have helped force Soviet surrender had the war gone on)
Portugal might not have attained much relevance overall, but did seem to be having a genuinely fun time campaigning in Africa
Perhaps things could have been different if I had engaged more with Germany (especially pointing out how much of a help I was being to him). On the other hand, a player who would destroy his only ally in the region, whose holding out secured him time to win the ultimate victory, shows that this might have been a lost cause to begin with.
As for other possible courses of action I could have taken to change the outcome of this game, I did seriously consider an early war with Yugoslavia, delayed because of fears of Soviet retaliation if the red army was already in Yugoslavia. In hindsight, there were no such Red Army units deployed there, and Yugoslavia was fully committed to pushing into Greece and was very vulnerable. Of course, world tension would have been increased, but aggressive Soviet actions were doing this regardless. Had I acted sooner, I might have been able to save Romania. (as an aside, I do not like the addition of needing ideology support to guarantee. There is little reason why Italy could not have guaranteed Greece in a scenario like this).
I could also have kept my troops in Italy rather than send them to the Ukraine. It is difficult to say if this would have been able to hold back the American tide (and subsequent German invasion) however. Once Germany attacked, things were essentially over regardless.
Regardless, this game was a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. It was one of my favourite mp games and had a lot of back and forth and heroic struggle.
As for our pasta loving protagonist, too late did Mussolini learn that not all friends should be trusted, although he did perhaps earned a much different place in the history books of his nation than in our time line (likely a controversial one, but still much better than he got in our timeline; perhaps something akin to Metaxas of Greece).
I did later go into the save file to complete the peace deal, so I can give everyone a view of roughly what the map would have looked like had the game continued.
Some of this territory would no doubt quickly change hands had the war continued. And yes, Soviet Russia did demand land for the blood of her children ("bases" as I euphemised) (and areas the Red Army had never actually conquered too)
Germany had yet to take the major Russian cities/victory points of Moscow, Leningrad, or Stalingrad. However, the Red Army appeared to be stretched precariously thin. Who would be the ultimate victor here is still up for debate. As is the effect of German forces being peeled from the Easter Front to deploy to Italy
A broader view, including new American colonies in Africa
And finally, the war was at last confined to its historic factions once more
Too anyone who has got all the way here, thank-you so much for reading! I truly appreciate you taking the time to read my AAR. Please share any comments, questions, or critiques you might have.
And with that,
All's well that ends well.
