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unmerged(48389)

SMEP Interim Project Manager
Sep 8, 2005
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[Author's note: Not only am I a Diplopmacy n00b, I'm also a AAR n00b as well. I will play the regular game at normal difficulty as Germany. If someone could tell me how to link pictures, that would be very nice. Hope you enjoy the AAR-Blue Max 8)]

Prologue: Assassins

Zurich, Switzerland. March 25th, 1901.

Guildmaster Ernst Dressler is the most powerful person in Europe that no one had ever heard of. Thin, cold and with a blank face, he betrays no hint of his vast network of spies and assassins. For months, years, over a decade, his very existance-and the existance of his network, the Silver Thorn, has been kept a closely guarded secret.

But this secret is wearing on. The Guildmaster has always dreamed of power, dreamed of a day and the world might see his face and know their master. Perhaps, if one had seen him in the cold basement of a safehouse, he might have betrayed a fraction of a smile.

His time had come.

And it would be the grandest plan of all.

The Silver Thorn had not been idle. Over the last dozen years or so, they had begun to infiltrate the upper echelons of the world's great powers. Motivated by the vast rewards of Dressler's "New World Order", a hundred or so of Europe's most proficient assassins now had access to the worlds most powerful men and women.

The plan was elementally simple.

A single nation would simply appoint new leaders if the old ones were eliminated. Thus, simple assassination would only result in the death of the assasssins, discovery of the network, and the ultimate end of any grand plan.

However, if the great powers were ALL to lose their leaders, the fragile peace that prevailed in Europe, albeit weakly, would be shattered. The resultant chaos would surely lead to war.

And during that war, agents of the SIlver Thorn would use their acquired positions to gain political control over some, if not all, of these powerful nations. Depending on how many nations fell under the thorn's control, this might just be a mass overthrow of the old regime, or it might require a few months of fighting.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


That night, 15 letters were dispatched from throughout Switzerland around the world. Inside was a blank black sheet of paper-the final signal for the Silver Thorn to strike.

The Guildmaster drank from a bottle of newly purchased brandy. It was already time to celebrate.

His time had come. At last.

[I'll update this in a few hours, now I've got to get some sleep-BM]
 
As in any paradox game you will probably make screenshots with f11. And then upload them on imageshack .
Click on the images you want to show in your post,then right-click on the image, and select 'properties'. You then get a pop-up, in the middle of the pop up you see 'Adres '. Select the text after the adres,...aarshalk told me some time ago and it worked.
 
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CSK said:
As in any paradox game you will probably make screenshots with f11. And then upload them on imageshack .
Click on the images you want to show in your post,then right-click on the image, and select 'properties'. You then get a pop-up, in the middle of the pop up you see 'Adres '. Select the text after the adres,...] THanks CSK. Be sure to do that soon! 8)
 
WOOT! WOOT! A new Diplo AAR, about time too :D

Nice start.
 
March 30th, 1901, Berlin, Germany.

It's good to be home.

Blue Max, a veternan diplomat, soldier and sometime bureaucrat had been recalled from Austria-Hungary by German Chancellor Von Buelow. Outwardly, Max was quite relieved to be back within his native Germany. Inwardly, he was deeply concerned that Von Buelow-a man who had adopted the post but not the diplomatic finesse of Otto Von Bismarck-might have decided to end his career and send him away for good.

Max was getting on in years, now over fifty. He had never met Von Bismarck, but he had been in the army during those times. Prussia had engaged in, and succeeded at, wars against other nations. In his younger years, that is what made him. In the 1870s, Max was a national hero for his part in the German victory at Sedan, and was awarded the Iron Cross.

He'd spent a few years afterward as a government gopher. Being a bureaucrat was awfully boring, so Max, who spoke five different languages, asked for and became involved in diplomatic circles.

But now he was back. And that, for the moment, was worth disguising his own concerns.

As he entered the Chancellory, he felt something was terribly wrong. The Chancellory was always busy, bustling with humanity, but today it was strangely quiet. And then, out of the corner of his eye- shattered Glass!

Then came echo of church bells. It started off quietly, but soon every bell in Germany was ringing. It could only have one meaning-the Kaiser was dead! Max suspected that Von Buelow was dead as well.

Someone would have to pay.
 
Wow... nice start

What will Germany do without the Kaiser and his yes man?

Keep it up. :)
 
The German Governement was not the only victims of the Silver Thorn. Newspapers around the world began to scream with half-page fonts the deaths of national leaders.

QUEEN VICTORIA MURDERED! LORD SALISUBRY MORTALLY WOUNDED! (UK)
PRESIDENT McKINLEY KILLED BY ASSASSIN! ROOSEVELT TO BECOME PRESIDENT (USA)
KAISER WILHEIM AND CHANCELLOR VON BUELOW DEAD! (Germany)
EMPEROR FRANZ JOZEF DIES! (Austria-Hungary)
THE KING AND THE POPE HAVE DIED (Italy)
MARTIAL LAW DECLARED IN RUSSIA; REGENCY ESTABLISHED AFTER VICIOUS ATTACK KILLS ROYAL FAMILY. (Russia)
SOCIALIST PARTY BOMBED BY TERRORISTS (France)
KING ALFONSO DIES! (Spain)
AMSTERDAM IN FLAMES! ROARING INFERNO CLAIMS LIVES OF KING, CHANCELLOR (Netherlands)
ARMY COUP AGAINST THE SULTANATE! OTTOMAN ARMY DEPOSES ROYAL FAMILY. (Ottoman Empire)
EMPRESS DOWAGER DROWNED IN WELL BY OWN SERVANTS (China).

The Old World Order had started to crack. These attacks had broken the back of the system of alliances and marriages that kept Europe calm.

As nations hurriedly appointed new leaders, new kings, a new pope, none failed to grasp that the old order, and its tangled lines of Alliances, was another casualty in the attack. With the rage of the death of their old leaders, and the resultant disorder in the streets of some of Europes greatest cities, war was DEMANDED by the common people. And the new, inexperienced governments would be all too willing to make the plunge.

[Hope your having fun so far-BM]
 
[I'm having a lot of fun writing this, so, here's another update.]


April 3rd, 1901.

A national day of mourning for the deceased Kaiser and the others who died in the attack. Blue Max believed, that as a minor government bureaucrat, he would be present in the church service, and probably be sent urgently by the new chancellor to Austria, France, or perhaps the United States as a special envoy to defuse tensions.

If Kaiser Friedrich knew what he was doing, and at 19 years old, that was questionable. So when Max was approached to speak the new Kaiser, his mind raced on how best to offer his sympathy for a kaiser he didn't much like. He had already decided to accept what he thought would be another diplomatic deployment to another nation-any nation-to help his country.

The Royal servant had him wait outside the Private office of the Kaiser. While he thought to himself what to say and how to say it, he noted that the Kaiser and his previous guest were raising their voices and becoming quite heated.

"I'll say it once, and I'll say it again, You are not going to be the new chancellor."
"Why not? I was father's defense minister--and you'd better believe that you are going to need a wartime government."
"We aren't at war yet!"
"You will be, unless you would like to be a failure like your father"
"YOU DO NOT INSULT THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER. AND YOU DO NOT TALK DOWN TO YOUR KAISER. I HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY GOD TO LEAD THIS NATION. YOU ARE DISMISSED"
"IF I GO, HALF THE ARMY QUITS "
"GUARDS!"

But the call for guards was unneccessary. The door opened, and the Young Kaiser, and his unwelcome guest, General Mattias Von Bonn, revealed themselves. Von Bonn spat off an insult, which Kaiser Friedrich had the presence of mind to ignore.

Said the Kaiser, in a voice betraying no hint of previous outburst, "You must be Blue Max. I'm sorry for such an inappropriate greeting. General Von Bonn has been a nusience for too long, always angling for the chancellery. I don't know what my father saw in him--some jerk that showed up about nine years ago.
Anyhow, I'm sure you want to know why I called you here. I've decided to name you chancellor."
Anticipating the obvious question, he quickly added "To rebuild this nation, we need the hard-working talent of people like you, and why you? Because, you are quite frankly the best diplomat we have, and the difficulties we face are more than anything else a matter of Diplomacy. Think about it, you're a war hero, with years in serving our country. I'll take my chances with our best diplomat. Who else? Von Bonn would demand the Imperial Crown next-the greedy bum. Tirpitz I'd rather keep leading the Navy, and I won't have another yes man like Von Buelow.
Blue Max was not a man to say no to his country in its time of greatest need.
 
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VICTORIA MURDERED!! :mad:

Britain shall not stand for this, we shall controll all your bases!! :mad:

..oh and congrats on the Chancellorship and all. :D
 
April 8th, 1901.

Blue Max was still getting used to being the German Chancellor. Difficult questions of economics and social welfare were called to his attention. But at this critical point, foreign affairs took priority over more mundane domestic problems.

Max had immediately demanded a briefing on the world situation, but it apparently had taken this long to get any kind of meaningful information into Germany.

The Intelligence briefings were somewhat sparse and poorly written, but knowledge of the contents would be essential to deciphering the complex world situation.

The Briefing came with an apology for taking so much time and a big warning that the "Day of Disaster" as it was now being called had utterly demolished any meaningful foriegn relations. That said, they are summarized below.

America: President Roosevelt had been persuaded to appoint William Jennings Bryan as his Vice President due to the emergency situation. It was well known that Bryan was the best that the Democrats could field in 1900, and that their support would safeguard the United States from any foriegn intervention. However, Bryan was a confirmed pacifist. At his urging, the United States would remove itself from the Phillipines and leave the rest of the world alone. Teddy Roosevelt was referred to as 'The Falcon'.

Austria: Franz Ferdinand or 'The Owl' as intelligence labeled him, had spent the early part of his life trying to include a slavic state in Austria-Hungary. While intelligence initally thought themselves optimistic about the situation, they soon learned that Owl was already very unpopular in his own country, and would be very likely to head off to war, against Germany if necessary.

Britain: Britain was having serious problems of their own. A Boer Insurgency, plus the sudden loss of Ireland, had drained the Royal treasury to its last coffers. Lord Balfour "the Elephant", a political ally of the now deceased Lord Salisbury and rising star in British Politics would serve as prime Minister for the New king, Edward 7th "The Crocodile"

China: China probably fared among the worst of the victims of the Day of Disaster. The Qing dynasty was already badly compromised as a result of humilations suffered by the opium war, and while most of Europe was badly distracted by the Day of Disaster events, Japan was actively engaged in a campaign against the Boxer Rebellion. Much of Europe decided to make their exit, but the USA and Japan were almost certainly going to defeat the Boxers and force China to sign yet another humilating peace deal. Puyi. Emperor of China, was referred to as "the Mouse" and it was hinted that china would need at least another century to pose any threat to Germany.

France: The bombing of the Socialists in Paris had mortally wounded the strength of the current government-many of the best and brightest of the socialists were among the victims of the bombing. Prime Minister Camille, "The Cat"(specially chosen for him because of his ability to defy death) was holding on to political power, mostly on the sympathy vote of the people. The Cat is anti-war would try as long as possible to avoid being in one. Unfortunately, it seems all but inevitable his government would fall to a Center-Right coalition determined to seek vengance for the vicious attack his nation had suffered, probably led by a George Benet "the Jackal".

Italy: Against all odds, the badly hurt crown Prince of Italy, Victor Emmanuel 3, survived the attack that killed his father. He's lost an eye in the attack, and it very displeased over it. Beyond personal reasons, The 'Dragon" faces political pressures to act agressively, and the new pope, Benedict XV, has urged the people to support a just war against the assassins who committed the day of Disaster. The 'Dragon' will act.

Netherlands: Amsterdam is litterally gutted out by the devastating firestorm that took out the royal family, and most of the civilian government. What's left of the government has fled to Rotterdam, and our diplomat reports that crime is out of control in the Netherlands. Bands of raiders wander the countryside, and the city of Eindhoven has been attacked by these raiders. Whats left of the government is trying to get foreign assistance to stabilize the country.

Ottoman Empire; "Greater Turkey": Intel didn't know who was running the show in the Ottoman Empire, but someone clearly was. Abdul Hamid 2, Ottoman Sultan, who had declared the Ottoman Empire a Consitituional Monarchy, was dead or missing. Of clear importance is a unnamed woman-"The Sphinx", who we think is the foriegn minister or lead diplomat or something like that. We just don't have all of the pieces of this one.

Russia: Control of Russia has passed on to the Czarina Xenia 'Bear', sister of the now deceased Nicholas 2. This is far from the first time Russia has had problems with assassinations, and martial law has been declared in large portions of the Country. They are clearly out for war-orders to mobilize have already been been distributed, and while It takes a great deal of time for Russia to mobilize, we can have no doubt that it doing exactly that.

Spain: Last of the Briefings. Spain is falling into civil war. Republicians are fighting monarchists in disorganized mobs in the streets of Madrid, and Barcelona, and we are very confident that the fighting can not be contained to those areas.

The briefings had a note attached to the last page.
As you can see, there is no way to avoid armed conflict. Expect enemy action by May at the latest. Perhaps more importantly, while there is a war, there is no alliance or condition that gives us any picture of who will be fighting who. Perhaps, with some clever negotiations, we might well wind up better for this struggle.

[I'll get a screenie of the setup window when I can, update comes within a week]
 
Wow! I wasn't sure we'd ever see another Diplomacy AAR! Good job Max, and so far this looks like a great start! Good luck convincing everyone of German dominance! :)
 
CSK said:
As in any paradox game you will probably make screenshots with f11. And then upload them on imageshack .
Click on the images you want to show in your post,then right-click on the image, and select 'properties'. You then get a pop-up, in the middle of the pop up you see 'Adres '. Select the text after the adres,...cs package (e.g. MS Paint). Nice start BTW
 
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Hummm... interesting update, beware the crocadile!! :D
 
Blue Max said:
Just an FYI post.

I only really have free time on Weekends, so that's when I update.

Stay tuned. 8)

Thats good... don't worry, don't rush.. just make it good!! :D
 
[Attached is the First Picture I've taken, I've put it as an attachment and stapled it to this post. Sorry about the Pictures, but at least I can do this for you.]

Chapter One: Between Peace and War

April 22nd, 1901.

Secret Meeting Room, Neuschwannstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany.

Chancellor Blue Max, Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz, Newly Appointed Defense Minister Helmut Von Moltke, and the New Foriegn Minister Arthur Weiss (Who has a personal friend of Chancellor Max), had been abruptly summoned to a secret meeting at the urging of the Kaiser. It was clear that something very serious and very important was to be discussed. And indeed, there was much to discuss.

Kaiser Friedrich began the meeting. Good Evening, Gentlemen. I don't suppose any of you are aware of this, but I've summoned you here because--there has been a plot. Another assassination plan. like the one that killed my father.

Shocked Silence tinged the room.

Minister Von Moltke--do you have something to report?

Yes Sir--the assassins seem to be based in the German Army! We believe that a Colonel Dressler was scheming to murder the Kaiser while he slept THIS VERY EVENING. This Colonel Dressler, was a personal aide to a former General Von Bonn--and we have found signs of of serious sabotage within our ranks--

He nearly choked as he struggled to speak

Half of the Army is gone!

It was well understood that Germany's Army was one the finest on the continent, indeed, in the Age of Bismark it won two wars against France and Austria. The Strength of the Army was Germany's main advantage in Europe. And now there would be no advantage. With half the Army out of action--for who knows how long--Germany would be unable to repeat such performances.

Foriegn Minister Dressler went next. Be that as it may be a heavy blow, the other nations of the world may not be able to press their advantage. The world has changed more rapidly in the last month than in the 20 years before it. The United Kingdom is disunited--Irish Nationalists have driven a distracted British Army out for good. In addition, much of their forces have been sent to South Africa, where they may be out of action for the near future. The French are in only a marginally better position--they've lost control of Algeria. Russia is struggling with revolutionaries in Kazahkstan and Siberia. The Ottoman takeover has yet to fully mobilize their resources. And Austrian Dissent with its new emperor and nationalistic fervor might works in our favor as well.

In conclusion, we have strong odds of survival. Furthermore, we have some chance of benefiting massively from this situation.

Chancellor Max was quick to question the details, but they seemed weighted by the facts. Germany was far from doomed.

Tirpitz talked about the navy for a while, and truth be told, it was a boring topic. The most useful information was that the British would be unable to use their naval blockade against German Merchant shipping--largely due to the fact that much of their navy was focused on other theaters.

As the meeting ended, three things were clear.
1. That Von Bonn and Dressler were dead, and that a small fortune would be offered for anyone who captured them.
2. This would not be a quick or easy conflict. Germany might win, but it would be bloody, hard, and definitely not a short-term conflict.
3. There was another enemy out there somewhere. Whatever Germany did about her neighbors, there would be another consideration--that someone or something--wanted the German Government dead.

As just a minor footnote, it turns out that Intelligence decided to change Czarina Xenia's subject name to 'Lion'. Bear was a bad choice, as it could have been guessed by foriegn counter intelligence agencies.

[Let the Games Begin. 8)]
 

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June 4th, 1901.

It was a difficult day for the foriegn minister. Turth be told, Arthur Weiss expected to be foreign minister about as much as he expected Blue Max to be Chancellor. But that's what friends are for, right?, moving up the food chain by helping them.

But it wasn't working that way diplomatically. Germany's neighbors were refusing basic guarentees of national defense--Russia alone had agreed to stay out of Poland. Frustrated by his lack of success, Russia alone would be the only nation that could be counted on-even slightly. That said, the boundaries of Germany itself would forestall disaster, at least for the moment.

With his approval, VOn Moltke and Tirpitz would be moving west, to deal with the French. Few would disagree that the Franco-Prussian war has embittered this relationship, and the Day of Disaster might not have swept that away entirely. Better to be safe than sorry...

[Submitted Spr. 1901 orders above-BM]
 
Woot! Woot! anothe update :D

Yay! go smash them Frenchies!! :D
 
Europe- August 1901.

Top 5 Headlines:

German Navy to restore Order in Netherlands.
Italian Incursion into Southern Austria-Hungary
France to Resolve Spanish Civil War, peacekeepers sent to Spain
DuPont reports run on munitions by European nations. Stock up 15% in 1 month
China to repay Japan and USA for damages caused in Boxer Rebellion.