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Fantastic updates and some interesting developments. Now, the Germans aren't serious about peace in Europe are they? I mean, there is still an awful lot of land out there that is rightfully theirs. Not to mention some that isn't, but who's counting? 
It may sound repetitive, but... Nice update, Commander-DK. I wonder how far Ribbentrop will go in his peace offers for the sake of avoiding diplomatic isolation of Germany...
You needn't have worried there, my vote in support of this fine AAR was locked in long ago.Commander-DK said:As a compensation for the long absence I plan to post every day for the next seven days. I'll have to do something radical to win my way back into your minds and hearts now that the voting for the AARland awards has started again, right?
Feedback
Sorry about the missing updates Monday and Tuesday but I was suddenly called away on a business trip and have been without my own computer all week. Hopefully I will be able to post a couple of episodes this weekend.
rcduggan: Thank you. I am glad you still like the story.
Hardraade: Well, let's just say that if you have read Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising" you will have learned what Maskirovka means. If you haven't read Tom Clancy, well then you will have to wait and see what von Ribbentrop's plan really is...
latinsword: Don't worry. I still don't get tired of praise . Thanks a lot. In regards to von Ribbentrop, see above answer .
Hardraade 2:Thanks. I really appreciate the acknowledgement.
Erkki1: Basically I use the Design Mod Project from http://www.heartsofiron.eu/ combined with various infantry sprites, naval sprites and air force sprites from Halibutt and BeBro. I love the way they make the game screen look, but they do swallow a lot of RAM...
Jesper
Sorry about the missing updates Monday and Tuesday but I was suddenly called away on a business trip and have been without my own computer all week. Hopefully I will be able to post a couple of episodes this weekend.
rcduggan: Thank you. I am glad you still like the story.
Hardraade: Well, let's just say that if you have read Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising" you will have learned what Maskirovka means.
If you haven't read Tom Clancy, well then you will have to wait and see what von Ribbentrop's plan really is...latinsword: Don't worry. I still don't get tired of praise
. Thanks a lot. In regards to von Ribbentrop, see above answer .Hardraade 2:Thanks. I really appreciate the acknowledgement.
Erkki1: Basically I use the Design Mod Project from http://www.heartsofiron.eu/ combined with various infantry sprites, naval sprites and air force sprites from Halibutt and BeBro. I love the way they make the game screen look, but they do swallow a lot of RAM...
Jesper
WOW ! A truly impressive set of updates that is ! Back in full swing...
I can tell that you did a great deal of research into this matter, it reads like it comes straight out of an encyclopedia and with that i mean the descriptive parts not the dialogue, definately not the dialogue !
Nice to see you back online, Commander !!!
Surprising move by von Ribbentrop though : offering a non-agression pact from a nation with an army of barely a 100.000 troops, no general staff, no airforce and no navy worth mentioning to two of the greatest powers in the western world.
I can tell that you did a great deal of research into this matter, it reads like it comes straight out of an encyclopedia and with that i mean the descriptive parts not the dialogue, definately not the dialogue !
Nice to see you back online, Commander !!!
Surprising move by von Ribbentrop though : offering a non-agression pact from a nation with an army of barely a 100.000 troops, no general staff, no airforce and no navy worth mentioning to two of the greatest powers in the western world.
vladimirowich said:
Thanks vladimirowich, glad to have you back with us. And your praise helped me get off my butt with the next update, which has been postponed far too many times these past two weeks because of work and other real-life events. Thanks!
Actually, the peace offer is historical. You must remember that Britain and particularly France felt very unnerved by German troops at their border and Hitler's defiant nature. They were emotionally scarred by WWI and nobody wanted another war... (well, nobody in the Allies anyway
).This brings us to the next update, but before I post it, I just want to quote what The Yogi wrote in his AAR recently:
The Yogi said:
And give you all the link to post your votes in: AARland Choice Awards 2007 Q3
While I sadly have not had enough time to write these past weeks, I have found a few moments to read some of the excellent AAR's at the forum, and I hope that you can do the same and use this opportunity to give them the praise and attention that their writAARs' efforts surely deserves.
Jesper
Chapter 2: The League of Nations
Episode VII – The trap
January 18th, 1936
Palais des Nations
Geneva
Faudel and Sir Godfrey had negotiated with the Italian delegate long into the night. Signor Moretti had seemed amused at their desperation and feeble attempts to gain Italy’s support in the debate against Germany.
In the end, Sir Godfrey had seen no alternative and decided on a final attempt to strong-arm the Italians. He calmly cautioned the Italian government not to see the failure of the trade sanctions that had been imposed on Italy because of the war in Abyssinia as a lack of will or determination on the part of either the British or the French. Nor should they expect their import of vital industrial petrochemicals and fuel or their unrestricted passage through the Suez to their colonies on the African horn to continue, unless they decided to stand with the British and French in this matter against Germany.
It was a bluff, but because the Italian campaign in East Africa was dragging on in its third month almost without signs of progress, signor Moretti could hardly chose to ignore it. At three a.m. he telephoned Rome and the next morning Faudel and Sir Godfrey had what they wanted: a promise that Mussolini would not veto any League of Nation action against Germany.
The hatred in von Ribbentrop’s eyes as the delegates gathered for the third day of the conference told Faudel and Sir Godfrey that he evidently had heard what had happened. The loss of his biggest supporter did not faze him long though. Von Ribbentrop was still confident that his peace proposal from the day before had divided the delegates sufficiently to stave off any attempt by the French and British to force a resolution.
Faudel opened the debate with a passionate speech in which he once again stated that the international community could not allow treaties to be broken without consequences and appealed to the delegates not to let themselves be blinded by distractions and golden promises by the Germans. Faudel was especially careful to insinuate that von Ribbentrop was a skilled orator with hollow words and a silver tongue who just told them what they wanted to hear.
It was a trap set to provoke von Ribbentrop. And it worked. The German delegate lost his temper and from the podium he unleashed a burst of anger at the French and British that lost him some of the sympathy he had won the day before.
Von Ribbentrop accused the British and French of feeling morally superior to the rest of the world. Thereby he hoped to stir some emotion in some of the other delegates whose countries had former colonial ties but only Afghanistan seemed affected by this ploy. The rest of the delegates were too surprised by his sudden turn into a rabid accuser.
The ball was now in the Allies’ court and Sir Godfrey carefully used his speaking time to bait von Ribbentrop even more. Sir Godfrey even went so far as to apologize on von Ribbentrop’s behalf to the assembly for his acid remarks towards Britain and France, carefully insinuating that von Ribbentrop lacked either the mental capacity or the proper manners to control his Bavarian temper.
It was enough to make von Ribbentrop explode.
He managed to launch another wave of abusive allegations against the British and French, before he suddenly froze on the podium, realising the political ambush he had just walked into. It chilled Faudel and Sir Godfrey down the spine to witness how he regained his composure and with restored confidence once more changed his tactics in this high stakes political game.
Episode VII – The trap
January 18th, 1936
Palais des Nations
Geneva
Faudel and Sir Godfrey had negotiated with the Italian delegate long into the night. Signor Moretti had seemed amused at their desperation and feeble attempts to gain Italy’s support in the debate against Germany.
In the end, Sir Godfrey had seen no alternative and decided on a final attempt to strong-arm the Italians. He calmly cautioned the Italian government not to see the failure of the trade sanctions that had been imposed on Italy because of the war in Abyssinia as a lack of will or determination on the part of either the British or the French. Nor should they expect their import of vital industrial petrochemicals and fuel or their unrestricted passage through the Suez to their colonies on the African horn to continue, unless they decided to stand with the British and French in this matter against Germany.
It was a bluff, but because the Italian campaign in East Africa was dragging on in its third month almost without signs of progress, signor Moretti could hardly chose to ignore it. At three a.m. he telephoned Rome and the next morning Faudel and Sir Godfrey had what they wanted: a promise that Mussolini would not veto any League of Nation action against Germany.
The hatred in von Ribbentrop’s eyes as the delegates gathered for the third day of the conference told Faudel and Sir Godfrey that he evidently had heard what had happened. The loss of his biggest supporter did not faze him long though. Von Ribbentrop was still confident that his peace proposal from the day before had divided the delegates sufficiently to stave off any attempt by the French and British to force a resolution.
Faudel opened the debate with a passionate speech in which he once again stated that the international community could not allow treaties to be broken without consequences and appealed to the delegates not to let themselves be blinded by distractions and golden promises by the Germans. Faudel was especially careful to insinuate that von Ribbentrop was a skilled orator with hollow words and a silver tongue who just told them what they wanted to hear.
It was a trap set to provoke von Ribbentrop. And it worked. The German delegate lost his temper and from the podium he unleashed a burst of anger at the French and British that lost him some of the sympathy he had won the day before.
Von Ribbentrop accused the British and French of feeling morally superior to the rest of the world. Thereby he hoped to stir some emotion in some of the other delegates whose countries had former colonial ties but only Afghanistan seemed affected by this ploy. The rest of the delegates were too surprised by his sudden turn into a rabid accuser.
The ball was now in the Allies’ court and Sir Godfrey carefully used his speaking time to bait von Ribbentrop even more. Sir Godfrey even went so far as to apologize on von Ribbentrop’s behalf to the assembly for his acid remarks towards Britain and France, carefully insinuating that von Ribbentrop lacked either the mental capacity or the proper manners to control his Bavarian temper.
It was enough to make von Ribbentrop explode.
He managed to launch another wave of abusive allegations against the British and French, before he suddenly froze on the podium, realising the political ambush he had just walked into. It chilled Faudel and Sir Godfrey down the spine to witness how he regained his composure and with restored confidence once more changed his tactics in this high stakes political game.
Fantastic update, and a nice representation of von Ribbentrop. I can't wait to see how he turns this around. Incidentally, I wonder if he and Hitler will remember how shaky an ally Italy is.
Chapter 2: The League of Nations
Episode VIII – The Franco-Soviet pact
January 18th, 1936
Palais des Nations
Geneva
Von Ribbentrop’s next move was to try and convince the Council that France was in no position to accuse anyone of violating International Law because France on May 2 1935 had signed the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance, which pledged France and the Soviet Union to assist each other in case of a war with Germany.
The so-called treaty was, von Ribbentrop argued, actually an aggressive pact established with the secret purpose to eventually attack Germany from two sides. The fact that the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to leave her left flank completely undefended and open to French invasion, had forced Reich chancellor Hitler to reinstitute military service in Germany the year before. The fact that France opposed the remilitarisation of the Rhineland so fiercely, von Ribbentrop said, spoke volumes about France’s sinister intentions.
This aggressive pact was illegal according to the standards of International Law, von Ribbentrop claimed, because the signing of alliances of an offensive nature had to be cleared with the League of Nations first – according to the Treaty of Lorcarno, which France was so keen on enforcing.
Sir Godfrey immediately felt his firm grasp of the Council begin to slip again as the delegates began to debate what motives France really had in this situation…
Episode VIII – The Franco-Soviet pact
January 18th, 1936
Palais des Nations
Geneva
Von Ribbentrop’s next move was to try and convince the Council that France was in no position to accuse anyone of violating International Law because France on May 2 1935 had signed the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance, which pledged France and the Soviet Union to assist each other in case of a war with Germany.
The so-called treaty was, von Ribbentrop argued, actually an aggressive pact established with the secret purpose to eventually attack Germany from two sides. The fact that the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to leave her left flank completely undefended and open to French invasion, had forced Reich chancellor Hitler to reinstitute military service in Germany the year before. The fact that France opposed the remilitarisation of the Rhineland so fiercely, von Ribbentrop said, spoke volumes about France’s sinister intentions.
This aggressive pact was illegal according to the standards of International Law, von Ribbentrop claimed, because the signing of alliances of an offensive nature had to be cleared with the League of Nations first – according to the Treaty of Lorcarno, which France was so keen on enforcing.
Sir Godfrey immediately felt his firm grasp of the Council begin to slip again as the delegates began to debate what motives France really had in this situation…
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Sorry for the briefness of the update but I am on my way out the door for training. I hope to complete the rest of January 18th 1936, when I get back.
EDIT: I won't have time to update more today but hopefully in the next couple of days.
Thank you. I am really glad that you like it still.
Writing Chapter 2 I find my mind drifting off to the planning of later stages of the AAR. I am so terribly tempted to just skip ahead to the action bit and leave the description of all these negotiations behind. But on the other hand I would feel guilty if I had just summed up several days of negotiations in just one post.
Please let me hear your thoughts on these matters. Should an AAR generally always skip ahead to the "action" bits?
Jesper
EDIT: I won't have time to update more today but hopefully in the next couple of days.
Hardraade said:
Thank you. I am really glad that you like it still.
Writing Chapter 2 I find my mind drifting off to the planning of later stages of the AAR. I am so terribly tempted to just skip ahead to the action bit and leave the description of all these negotiations behind. But on the other hand I would feel guilty if I had just summed up several days of negotiations in just one post.
Please let me hear your thoughts on these matters. Should an AAR generally always skip ahead to the "action" bits?
Jesper
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I myself could not resist the urge to hit the fast-forward button in my AAR, something that I hope you do not do. I for one find the narrative and events described therein to be very interesting.
I am afraid that I am putting this AAR on hold for a while for two reasons:
1) I have discovered that it is a lot of hard work to write an AAR from a narrative point of view and I just don't have the time and energy at the moment unfortunately to give it all the attention it deserves.
2) I miss actually playing HoI2 and I have stumbled upon the intriguing 1942 scenario by Duck1987, which has completely captivated me.
So, I have decided to continue this AAR but with irregular updates - basically whenever I feel like it. Instead I have started a new gameplay AAR - see sig - so that you can keep up with my exploits in the 1942 scenario. I hope a gameplay AAR turns out to be less of a creative strain
Once again, sorry if I disappointed the fans but I hope that irregular updates here are better than none.
Jesper
1) I have discovered that it is a lot of hard work to write an AAR from a narrative point of view and I just don't have the time and energy at the moment unfortunately to give it all the attention it deserves.
2) I miss actually playing HoI2 and I have stumbled upon the intriguing 1942 scenario by Duck1987, which has completely captivated me.
So, I have decided to continue this AAR but with irregular updates - basically whenever I feel like it. Instead I have started a new gameplay AAR - see sig - so that you can keep up with my exploits in the 1942 scenario. I hope a gameplay AAR turns out to be less of a creative strain
Once again, sorry if I disappointed the fans but I hope that irregular updates here are better than none.
Jesper
Though it is upsetting to hear, I understand completely. Writing in a narrative style demands quite a bit of time and it can get hard. As you also say, sometimes you want to just sit back and enjoy the game and not worry about the story. However irregular, I'm sure the updates will continue to be fantastic and I will gladly take what I can get.