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der Kriegsherr

Simp for the Constitution
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Oct 27, 2010
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Alarmstufe Rot: A German Empire AAR (KR)

Well, ladies and gents, it's finally here: The AAR I've been working on (and teasing you all with) ever since I first took up residence in AARland is finally ready.
I've got to warn you: It's going to be both long and image-heavy, but I feel that this will probably be my finest DH AAR. As you can see, it tells the story of the titular Kaiserreich, Mittleuropa, with the twist of an extremely hostile world (Although German speakers will have probably figured it out already)

Warning: This AAR may not be suitable for Marxists, Syndicalists, or other socialists. der Kriegsherr Productions will not be held responsible for damage caused by screaming at the top of one's lungs and/or punching the screen. Reader discretion is advised.
 
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Prologue

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A young Red Baron


April 25th, 1980, Breslau, German Empire


It was a day of mourning at the von Richthofen manor and for the Reich as a whole: Luftmarschall Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (colloquially known as the Red Baron), participant in two Weltkriege, aviation pioneer, and servant of three generations of Kaisers passed away four days ago at the ripe old age of eighty-eight.
His funeral attended by diplomats and heads of state from across the Mitteleuropa alliance, Kaiser Wilhelm IV delivered the eulogy, stating that “The Reich has lost today one of its greatest heroes. May he rest in peace and depart swiftly for his eternal reward.”

Von Richthofen is survived by his three sons and two daughters. Despite (or perhaps because) of her father’s passing, his eldest daughter Engeltraud saw fit to release the Baron’s memoirs which she had helped to compile in a four-volume set. Despite coming under criticism from some of her fellow family members, von Richthofen stood her ground, stating that “Father was always an amazing storyteller: He would have wanted us to share these tales with the German people and the world.”
 
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I loved your Japan and Russia AARs and will be following this too. Also you don't need to be a German speaker to understand the title - thanks to Google Translate ;).
 
I'm excited for this... *Blasts Hell March*
 
Part 1: Introduction to Threats

Part 3: Alarmstufe Rot



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The cabinet as of January 1936

For me, the morning of January 1st, 1936 was much the same as any other year: His Majesty called us to our traditional yearly special briefing. None of us thought much of it initially, however I distinctly remember His Majesty's voice being unusually heavy with worry and for good reason. Despite our position as the undisputed superpower in the world at the time, we faced a number of threats which, if struck at an inopportune moment, could be disastrous:


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First and foremost of these threats was our old enemy France: In the aftermath of the First Weltkrieg, in 1920, the French finally took their beloved revolution to its logical conclusion and embraced revolutionary Marxism. Syndicalism, to be precise. Suffering two straight defeats at German hands in concert with us being the very incarnation of "reaction" in the French mindset, even immediately after the proclamation of the Commune of France, we were already drawing up plans for the eventual war with France. Now let me make one thing perfectly clear: The French were (and especially today, are) no match for us. However, geopolitics has a way of compounding on problems, which we would learn all too well in the following years.



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And speaking of problems, the French ally of the Union of Britain, being an island state, would be (and was) a true headache to fight: Despite only being in power (as of 1936) for little more than ten years, London managed to build up an air force and navy to rival even ours. While the British reds were initially fairly isolationist as far as syndicalism in Europe was concerned, this luck of ours was not to last.



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At the time, Russia was kind of ambiguous: Neither an ally like Austria or an enemy like France. Their military had not quite recovered from the mauling we gave them in the First Weltkrieg and the Russian Civil War. Militarily, they were little threat to us. However, a state that massive in such a state of flux is a dangerous thing in and of itself.



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The state of Spain in 1936 surprised few: With the Carlists and Syndicalists both making trouble for the government in Madrid, our intelligence services had convinced His Majesty of the terminal weakness of the Bourbon dynasty. In fact, our plan to secure Gibraltar was actually first drawn up in 1930.




However, there were only two true wild cards which we would not have been able (at the time) to really do anything about:


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Ever since the First Weltkrieg and our first involvement in Asia, we had been at odds with the Japanese: We had countless contingency plans about how to contain and, if necessary, fight them.

Despite our significantly advanced intelligence apparatus in that country (which had detected signs of some unrest, but not nearly to the degree of Spain), we just did not know which path they would take. One thing was certain: Japan, being an island nation, would have to expand if she wanted to maintain her empire.




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While we had not (thankfully) fought the Americans in the First Weltkrieg, they were still not overly fond of us due to their close relations with the exiled British royals.
But this was not the threat, as that republic was usually a fairly rational actor: Our intelligence told us that the unions and America First party were becoming increasingly radicalized and viable challengers to the established political system there.
 
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Part 2: die Hölle bricht aus

With these threats in mind, His Majesty had become convinced that it would be next to impossible to defend all of the colonial possessions seized from the British and French from encroachment by a marauding Japan. Therefore, he saw fit to make them provide (largely) for their own defense in exchange for autonomy:

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Meanwhile, a bit closer to home, there was more trouble with the reds:

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A conference in Britain between Mussolini, Mosley, Beria, and others, this gaggle of scum presented a new variant of socialism: Totalism, or totalitarian socialism. Honestly, it was an interesting development, but not an immediate threat. As far as I'm concerned, it was little more than the inmates arguing about how best to run the asylum.




Speaking of reds, January 18th bought the start of what would become a disturbing trend in Russia:


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The SR-Menshiviks controlling the Russian senate had recently decided on infamous red agitator Nikolai Bukharin as the new prime minister. It was alarming, but few of us thought anything would come of it: After all, if things got too bad, we could always write Wrangel and his men and arrange for a coup.




But it was on February 3rd, 1936, that all hell truly broke loose in Europe:

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The crash of the stock market in Berlin was sure to aggravate economic conditions in already fragile states such as Spain, and provide ample fodder for the French and British to spread their poison. Two days later, His Majesty ordered that the holdings of private individuals be secured in an effort to soften the effects of the crisis on the average person. As for the foreign arena, we could only wait and see.




Unfortunately, the economic situation did not improve any as the so-called Black Week came to an end. Convinced by several other ministers and representatives from big industrial concerns, His Majesty signed off on a policy of state intervention in the market and industry as required:

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Alas, as the month of February came to a close, the only new news was more bad news:

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Seeing his chance in the unrest in the country, Lance Sharkey saw his chance to overthrow the prime minister's government and introduce a syndicalist republic in Australasia. Of course, this alarmed High Command a great deal: At that time, we only had one division on Papua New Guinea. Our forces in Southeast Asia were redeployed to prepare for the inevitable conflict with the now sure to be Internationale-alligned Australasia.



Apparently for the Bolsheviks in Russia, the revolution was not proceeding quickly enough. Naturally, Bukharin's government caved to their demands:

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"It's only temporary!" promised our intelligence assets in Russia at the time. Looking back on it, I still want to kick whoever sent that analysis.



All in all, I suppose we were lucky to have the economic strength to weather the crisis. Poland and Ukraine, being chiefly agricultural, were hit pretty hard

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In hindsight, I suppose we should have accepted that deal. But what's done is done.



Meanwhile, while the rest of Europe was distracted with their own economies, the (red) British sent a task force from the Republican Navy to intimidate the Irish:

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While I absolutely could not stand Micheal Collins, His Majesty's orders were absolute: In fact, I commanded a naval bomber wing during the counter exercises off Ireland.
 
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With Russia going Socialist, a two front war would be awesome.

As for the writing, I would like to see the Baron make some deeper analysis, rather than short comments, but so far, so good.
 
Part 3: The Third Internationale

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Australasia began its overture to join the Syndicalist Internationale. Always looking for a way to make trouble for us, the commune gladly accepted:

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Of course, it was only a matter of time before the situation with France led to open warfare, and the support of the Communal Navy put our Pacific possessions in very real danger. As if we needed another threat to our interests in that region.




Ever since 1919, the Freie Arbeiter Union Deutschlands had been a thorn in our side. Being the largest anarcho-syndicalist trade union in the Reich, many in the government (myself included) favored a complete destruction of the party. His Majesty however, was more cautious, unwilling to appear too heavy-handed. However, in April of 1936, our intelligence services had concrete evidence that the FAUD was, not just in contact with like minded organizations across Europe, but actively collaborating with the French! Of course, our next course of action was clear:

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But while the Fatherland was still hit hard by the crisis, the colonies were faring even worse: Given their relative lack of industrial capacity, this was to be expected. However, it was still an unwelcome development: It was speculated (later confirmed) that the French were sending agitators into our colonies in hopes of inciting syndicalist revolution. Some of the old hands in the government wanted to increase taxes in order to support the colonies, but the Kaiser was not convinced:

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Unwilling to exacerbate a bad situation even further, His Majesty did not sign off on the proposal to raise taxes, threatening to dissolve the Reichstag if it was bought up again. It was a good call, as far as I'm concerned: I can't say much about Asia, but I know for a fact that a good half of those taxes for Africa would have gone into the pockets of the Fat Bastard (my name for Göring).




Just as badly hit as our colonies were the agricultural markets of Poland and Ukraine, the former being known as the Breadbasket of Europe. That should give you an idea of just how much those two relied on agriculture. Kiev and Warsaw were virtually begging us to lower tariffs on their goods. The Junkers however, successfully lobbied His Majesty and the Reichstag for increased tariffs:

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I suppose it helped our own economy in the short term. However, it did lead to some mild annoyances down the line in the form of some extra troops required.



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And just in time for the Third Internationale, what did we have? Red demagogues in Bolivia succeeding in rallying the Bolivian people to their side and overthrowing the government. While Bolivia was not (and is not today) exactly a power player in world politics, it still annoyed us that there was very little that we could do about it aside from leave it to the Brazilians and Argentinians.



A bit of background first: The Internationale was a gathering of red powers with the stated goal of advancing syndicalism worldwide. Of course, our spies in Paris were on the highest state of alert, but there was one part of the proceedings in particular which vindicated our suspicion of the reds to the rest of Europe:

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From this point forward, the Commune of France could no longer claim to be a collection of well-meaning optimists against an unjust system, but a rabid dog and a destabilizing influence in Europe and around the world. While this granted the French great prestige with other socialist states, this completely alienated Paris from (mostly) capitalist states. Unsurprisingly, this wasn't a concern for them, as their goal was the socialist world republic, with themselves at the helm. Needless to say, they needed to be stopped.




One of their first targets for exporting revolutions was Latin America:

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Of course, the way our luck was going, with the help of Centroamerica and another of our future foes, they would not need any help spreading syndicalism in the Americas.
 
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Wunderbar! It's excellent to see a German KAAR, not nearly enough of those (I'm not sure I've actually seen a completed one on the DH AARland). Progressing quite well so far, and I like good old Manfred as the narrator.
 
Some ideas:

-I hope you modded the event % to allow all Syndicalist revolutions to succeed, it would be a challenge
-Allow USSR to restore all their lands
-Do not conclude with Bitter peace, have the USSR government reject it, fight all the way to Vladivostok!
-Have CSA win the ACW so you would have an excuse to attack America
-Make Japan an enemy too.
-Have Austria form Austria-Hungary and be a powerful ally on your side, unless you're planning an Anchluss
 
-I hope you modded the event % to allow all Syndicalist revolutions to succeed, it would be a challenge

I did for most of them anyway.


How did you go from 30% dissent to 10% in a month??

I cheated.;)
I have to do that a lot to set up these scenarios


As for the writing, I would like to see the Baron make some deeper analysis, rather than short comments, but so far, so good.

Ask and you shall receive!
Besides, the short comments were just not to give away spoilers this early on.




Hey der Kriegsheer, do you think you might be able to export monarchies to all your foes (and maybe even some/all your allies) with this AAR?

But of course!